UC-NRLF 


253 


*• 


- 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

GIFT  OK 


Received 
Accession  No.b  .       Ctes 


LATH  PRONUNCIATION 


AND     THE 


LATIN    ALPHABET 


DK^LEOISTAKD   TAFEL, 

OP  PHILADELPHIA. 


PEOP.  EUDOLPH  L.  TAFEL,  A.M. 

ST.  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  ANNAPOLIS. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  AUTHORS,   BY  I.   KOHLER, 

No.  202  NORTH  FOURTH  STREET. 

NEW  YORK:  B.  WBSTERMANN  &  CO.,  440  BROADWAY. 
1860. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1860,  by 
DR.    LEONARD    TAFEL, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court,  in  and  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Pennsylvania. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

INTRODUCTION 3 

LATIN  ALPHABET 5 

GUTTURALS,  C 16 

"          K 20 

"          Q 20 

"          G 21 

"          H 22 

LABIALS,  P 25 

"        B 26 

"        F 28 

DENTALS  OR  LINGUALS,  T , 30 

«  «         D , 32 

LIQUIDS,  L 36 

"       R 39 

"       N 42 

"       M 47 

SIBILANTS,  S 51 

"         Z 57 

"         X 58 

SEMI- VOWELS,  J 59 

"  V 62 

VOWELS,  A 65 

"       E 72 

"       I 74 

"       0 83 

"       U 87 

(1) 


2  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

DIPHTHONGS 94 

DIPHTHONGS,  An 98 

"  Ou 100 

«  Eu 102 

«  Ai 103 

"  Oi 110 

"  Ei 118 

DEGENERATION  OP  GREEK  DIPHTHONGS 132 

METHODS  OP  PRONOUNCING  LATIN 134 

THE  ROMAN  METHOD 135 

THE  ENGLISH  METHOD 138 

THE  SCOTCH  METHOD , 144 

THE  MODIFIED  ENGLISH  METHOD 146 

THE  CONTINENTAL  METHOD 147 

CONCERNING  THE  RE-INTRODUCTION  OP  THE  ROMAN  METHOD 149 

THE  PRACTICAL  ROMAN  METHOD 152 

INTERROGATORIES  PROPOUNDED  TO  ALL  LOVERS  OF  CLASSICAL  EDUCATION. 153 

CONCLUDING  REMARKS 154 

APPENDIX  :  ON  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  GREEK  AND  LATIN  Z 157 


INTRODUCTION. 


WITHIN  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years  great  pro- 
gress has  been  made  in  the  dominion  of  language  as 
well  as  in  all  the  departments  of  the  arts  and  sciences. 
Before  this  time,  the  classical  languages  were  a  separate 
branch  of  study  and  of  learned  investigation,  but  by 
the  efforts  of  Prof.  F.  Bopp  and  his  school,  they  are 
now  acknowledged  to  be  members  of  one  large  family, 
the  organic  forms  of  which  mutually  supply  and 
explain  each  other.  Most  idioms  of  Italy,  even,  are 
shown  to  be  members  of  one  common  stock,  by  the 
important  labors  of  Aufrecht,  Kirchhoff,  Mommsen,  and 
other  learned  men,  and  the  Latin  itself,  far  from  being 
any  longer  regarded  as  a  mere  mongrel  composition 
of  Greek  and  barbarian  elements,  is  now  universally 
admitted,  by  the  learned,  to  be  of  the  same  independent 
growth  among  the  other  Italic  dialects,  as  the  Hebrew 
among  the  Semitic.  Highly  important  results,  more- 
over, have  been  attained  by  the  critical  examination 
of  Latin  texts  made  by  Eitschl,  Lachmann,  Fleckeisen, 
and  others,  while  floods  of  light  have  been  shed  on  the 
whole  history  of  the  development  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, by  the  investigations  of  Diez,  Fuchs,  and  other 
philologists,  who,  starting  with  the  Latin  in  the  latest 
stages  of  its  existence,  have  traced  from  it  the  begin- 
nings of  the  modern  Komance  tongues.  Yet,  with  all 
1*  (3) 


4  INTEODUCTION. 

this  mass  of  new  information,  as  our  oldest  Latin 
manuscripts  were  mere  amended*  copies,  dating  from 
the  times  after  Christ,  many  questions  concerning  the 
original  orthography  and  pronunciation  of  the  Latin 
remained  still  unsettled.  New  means  were  therefore 
devised  by  our  scholars  to  supply  these  deficiencies. 
A  great  number  of  inscriptions  were  collected,  from 
the  early  times  of  the  republic  to  the  latest  times  of 
the  empire,  and,  by  subjecting  them  to  a  most  minute 
analysis,  and  comparing  them  with  each  other,  they 
were  made  to  yield  up  the  desired  information.  This 
was  done  in  the  form  of  moiiographies  by  Ritschl,  a.  o. 
The  final  work,  however,  of  reducing  these  manifold 
results  into  one  harmonious  whole,  and  of  solving,  by 
their  means,  the  problem  of  the  pronunciation  of  the 
Latin  among  the  Eomans,  was  accomplished  in  a  most 
satisfactory  and  skilful  manner  by  Prof.  W.  Corssen, 
in  a  prize-essay,  "  On  the  Pronunciation,  Vowel-system, 
and  Accentuation  of  the  Latin  Language"*  which  was 
crowned  by  the  Academy  of  Sciences  in  Berlin. 

Our  object,  in  these  pages  has  been  to  review  this 
important  work  at  full  length,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
to  give  to  the  English  students  who  have  no  access 
to  the  original  work,  a  clear  and  succinct  statement 
of  all  the  results  at  which  Mr.  Corssen  has  arrived,  so 
far  as  they  have  reference  to  the  language  itself,  and 
excluding  the  part  on  quantity.  At  the  close  of  our 
work,  we  institute  a  comparison  between  the  Latin 
language,  as  pronounced  by  the  Eomans  themselves, 
and  our  Latin  scholars  in  America  and  Great  Britain. 

*  Ueber  Aussprache,  Vokalismus  und  Betonung  der  lateinischen 
Sprache.  Von  der  koniglichen  Akadenaie  der  Wissenschaften  zu  Berlin 
gekronte  Preisschrift  von  W.  Corsxen.  Zwei  Bande.  Leipzig,  Druck  und 
Verlag  von  Teubner.  1858. 


LATIN  ALPHABET* 


All  Italic  alphabets  according  to  Mr.  CORSSEN,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Latin,  appear  to  have  taken  their  origin 
from  an  older  Greek  alphabet,  in  which  there  were  two 
characters  for  the  sibilant  "s,"  viz:^f  the  Phenician  Shin, 
and  the  Doric  San,  and  M,  the  Phenician  Samech  and  Ionic 
Sigma,  but  where  of  the  marks  of  the  guttural  smooth,  viz.: 
Kappa  and  Koppa  K  and  9,  the  latter  had  been  lost. 

Among  the  alphabets,  descended  from  this  Greek  alphabet, 
we  find  first  the  Sabellian.  The  two  principal  inscriptions 
of  this  idiom,  viz.,  on  the  stones  of  Crecchio  and  Cupra  are 
written  in  a  sort  of  serpentine  line,  uninterruptedly  continued 
This  mode  of  writing  is  older  than  the  usual  Bustrophedon, 
and  is  only  found  in  old  Corcyrian  and  Peloponnesian  inscrip- 
tions. In  these  two  inscriptions,  the  vowels  O  and  Y  (u) 
are  distinguished,  which  distinction  has  been  lost  in  other 
Italic  alphabets  and  dialects. 

[From  the  fact,  that  only  one  sign  was  used  in  the  other 
Italic  alphabets  for  the  representation  of  the  vowels  o  and  u, 
viz  ,  Y,  it  does  not  follow  that  the  former  was  also  wanting 
in  the  pronunciation ;  as  is  illustrated  by  the  Arabic,  where 
they  have  one  single  character  for  the  representation  of  these 

*  N.  B.  The  substance  of  the  following  pages,  where  not  expressly 
stated  otherwise,  is  entirely  derived  from  Prof.  Corssen's  work ;  our 
own  additions  we  either  distinctly  state  to  be  such,  or  else  we  enclose 
them  in  brackets,  [  ]. 

(5) 


6  LATIN   ALPHABET. 

two  sounds.  Or,  supposing  that  the  vowel  o  was  really 
wanting  in  the  pronunciation  of  these  dialects,  Mr.  Corssen's 
assertion  that  it  had  previously  existed  therein,  but  was  sub- 
sequently lost,  is  entirely  unwarrantable ;  for  it  is  more 
probable  that  it  did  not  exist  therein  originally,  but  was 
afterwards  developed . from  u.~\  •  In  the  Sabellian  alphabet, 
however,  we  find  the  two  characters  for  the  sibilant  "  s,"  vit.  : 
island  M. 

Secondly,  the  North- Etruscan  Alphabets,  which  hive 
lately  been  discovered  north  of  the  Apennine,  beyond  *-ho 
proper  boundaries  of  the  Etruscan  language,  as  far  as  the 
alpine  valleys  of  Tessin,  Tyrol,  Provence,  Grisons  and  Styria 
Of  these  inscriptions  some  are  written  in  a  serpentine  line, 
others  in  the  usual  Bustrophedon,  running  from  right  to  left, 
and  backward  from  left  to  right.  All  of  these  alphabets 
have  the  characters  ^  and  M  for  the  sibilants,  some  few  hav^ 
both  vowel-signs  O  and  V,  and  others  only  O  or  V.  Ye?f 
nearly  related  to  these  North-Etruscan  alphabets  is  thirdly, 
the  Etruscan  alphabet  proper ,  which  has  originated  imirjs- 
diately  from  the  Greek  alphabet  and  the  syllabariums,  found 
in  the  graves  of  Caere  and  Colle,  near  Siena.  This  al^hubet 
exhibits  the  twenty-two  Old-Phenician  letters,  and  the  four 
letters  which  had  been  invented,  at  an  early  time,  in  Greece, 
viz.  :  «,  |,  y,  x-  It  has  both  marks  of  the  sibilant  \1  (for  M) 
and  £,  but  not  the  letter  <p.  From  this  has  been  copied, 
fourthly,  the  Etruscan  alphabet  of  Bomarzo,  which  has 
adopted  nineteen  letters  of  the  alphabet  of  Caere,  and  among 
them  both  signs  of  the  sibilant  M  and  ^t  to  which  it  has 
added  the  character  8  for  the  consonant-sound  f,  which  is 
peculiar  to  the  Italic  languages.  Since  the  forms  of  the 
letters  in  these  two  alphabets  perfectly  harmonize  with  each 
other,  since  there  are  none  of  those  discrepancies  between 
them  which  are  found  between  the  various  Greek  alphabets, 
and  since  neither  of  them  know  the  Greek  9  but  have  the 
signs  M  and  2E,  Mr.  Corssen  says,  that  the  fact  that  the 
above  Greek  alphabet  was  found  in  two  Etruscan  graves,  is  a 


LATIN   ALPHABET.  7 

sufficient  proof  that  the  Etruscan  alphabet  of  Bomarzo  has 
been  imitated  from  the  Greek  one  of  Caere,  (Mornmsen, 
Unteritalische  Dialecte,  pag.  9-21.)  From  this  Old-Etrus- 
can alphabet  were  produced,  in  the  course  of  time,  after  the 
sign  of  the  vowel  O  had  disappeared  from  it,  fifthly,  the 
Campano- Etruscan  alphabet,  sixthly,  the  Oscan,  and 
seventhly,  the  Umbrian.  All  of  these  have  retained  the 
mode  of  writing  from  right  to  left,  but  have  lost  the  sign 
O,  like  the  more  recent  Etruscan  alphabet.  The  Oscan 
alphabet,  of  the  two  characters  for  the  sibilant  S,  has  only 
preserved  ^,  like  the  Latin. 

The  Latin  language  has  adopted  another,  more  recent 
alphabet,  which  had  come  from  Greece  into  Italy,  viz.  :  the  . 
Doric  of  the  Cuman  and  Sicilian  Greeks.  This  alphabet 
has  preserved  both  marks  for  the  gutteral  smooth,  viz.  : 
Kappa  and  Koppa,  K  and  p,  but  it  has  given  up  the  sign 
M  of  the  sibilant  letter  in  favor  of  s,  and  instead  of  the  old 
form  of  r,  viz.:  F",  D>,  P,  it  has  adopted  a  later  form  R,  ?, 
by  which  it  is  distinguished  from  all  the  other  alphabets  of 
Italy.  The  fact  that  this  alphabet  has  been  written,  from  the 
most  ancient  times,  from  left  to  right,  that  it  has  preserved 
the  Old-Phenician  letter  9,  that  it  has  abandoned  the  cha- 
racter M  in  favor  of  s,  moreover  that  it  used  the  sign  p» 
instead  of  the  Etruscan  sign  8,  for  the  Italic  consonant  f,  and 
has  adopted  a  new  sign  for  the  letter  r,  proves  sufficiently, 
according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  that  the  Latin  alphabet  has  not 
descended  from  the  Etruscan,  but  from  the  more  recent  one 
of  Cumae,  with  which  Rome,  during  the  time  of  the  Tar- 
quinii,  was  intimately  connected.  Of  the  twenty-four  letters 
of  this  Greek  alphabet  the  Latin  has  cancelled  the  three 
aspirates  0=£,  0=^,  V—x,  because  these  sounds  were  not 
in  the  langaage,  and  in  order  to  express  the  Italic  consonant 
f,  it  used  the  character  F.  The  Latin  alphabet,  in  the  most 
ancient  inscriptions,  thus  consists  of  the  following  twenty-one 
letters : 

. 


LATIN    ALPHABET. 

1.  a.  A,   A,  A,    A.         11.  1.    U,  A,  L. 

2.  b.    B,  B.  12.  m.    M,  W,  A/V,  Mil. 

3.  c.     <,  C,  C.                13.  n.    N,  N. 

4.  d.  D.  14.  o.    O  O,  O,  o. 

5.  e.  E,  II.  15.  p      P,  P. 

6.  f    I'.  ,  p.  16.  q    Q. 

7.  z.  Z.  17  r.    P,    "R. 

8.  h.  H.  18.  s.    ^  ^,  S. 

9.  i.  I.  19.  t.    T.  T. 
10.  k.  K.  (fc  )  20.  v,  (11).  V. 

21.  x.  X- 

The  fact  that  the  letter  Z  was  part  of  this  old  alphabet,  is 
proved  by  its  appearance  in  the  Carmen  Saliare  (Yel.  Long. 
p.  2217.  P.)  and  in  a  fragment  in  Yarro.  The  letter  X  also 
belonged  to  it,  since  it  is  found  in  the  oldest  monuments 
which  we  possess.  According  to  Priscian  it  was  nevertheless 
adopted  at  a  little  later  period,  and  therefore  was  placed  at 
the  end  of  the  alphabet  of  that  time.  The  oldest  document 
in  which  it  is  found  is  the  "  Senatusconsultum  de  Baccha- 
nalibus,"  186  before  Christ.  Nigidius  Figulus,  the  learned 
contemporary  of  Yarro,  objected  to  its  use,  and  the  latter, 
also,  was  not  willing  to  acknowledge  it  as  an  independent 
letter.  According  to  Mr.  Corssen,  the  letter  x  was  intro- 
duced in  the  time  intervening  between  the  legislature  of  the 
Decemviri  and  the  downfall  of  Yeji.  After  the  time  of  the 
Gracchi  xs  was  also  written  instead,  and  even  in  inscriptions, 
as  late  as  the  time  of  the  empire,  we  occasionally  find  it 
spelled  l  cs,J  (ucsori,  lucserunt,  bicsit)  ;  and  the  character  x 
itself  is  held  by  some  to  be  an  amalgamation  of  an  inverted 
c  and  s,  viz.  :  os.  The  Umbrians  and  Oscans,  also,  invariably 
wrote  ks  instead  of  x,  see  Mommsen,  p.  31. 

As  regards  the  sound  represented  by  c,  it  does,  indeed, 
occupy  the  place  of  the  Greek  Gamma,  in  the  alphabet,  thus 
of  the  guttural  middle ;  but  from  ttoe  time,  when  our  inscrip- 
tions begin,  to  the  time  of  the  first  Punic  war,  it  is  also  used 
for  the  guttural  smooth,  whose  sign  K  had  become  obsolete 


LATIN  ALPHABET.  9 

If  Mr.  Corssen,  (together  with  Mr.  Mommsen,  see  "Unter- 
italische  Dialecte,"  page  31  and  32,)  from  the  above  fact 
concludes,  that  the  Latin  language,  after  adopting  the  Doric 
alphabet,  in  the  course  of  its  development,  entered  upon  a 
stage  in  which  its  pronunciation  became  deteriorated,  and 
the  Romans  lost  the  delicate  power  of  distinguishing  between 
these  several  sounds,  during  which  stage  the  guttural  smooth 
became  so  much  softened  as  to  sound  like  the  middle  g,  he 
evidently  confounds  the  written  character  of  the  letter  with 
its  sound  ;  neither  does  he  assign  any  reason  whatever  for 
this  assertion.  Mr.  Mommsen  feels  the  want  of  such  a 
reason,  and  in  the  passage  above  quoted  says  :  "  Among 
the  twenty-one  letters  of  the  oldest  Latin  alphabet,  the  letter 
k  has  preserved  itself  in  common  use  only  in  a  few  abbrevia- 
tions and  in  the  alphabet,  and  in  consequence  of  its  disuse, 
the  letter  c  has  ceased  to  represent  the  guttural  middle,  and 
has  taken  its  place.  The  fact,  that  the  letter  c  was  used  in 
the  oldest  Latin  alphabet  for  the  middle,  and  the  letter  k  for 
the  smooth,  is  proved  by  the  "  Notae,"  in  which  K  represents 
the  smooth  and  c  in  Gains  and  Gneius,  the  middle,  (Mar. 
Yict.  p.  2469,  P.)  Afterwards,  very  likely  owing  to  Etrus- 
can influence,  as  Miiller  II.,  312,  correctly  observes,  perhaps 
in  consequence  of  the  overpowering  immigration  of  large 
bodies  of  Tuscans,  ("  massenhafte  Einwanderung  von  Tus- 
kern,")  into  Rome,  the  middle  no  longer  was  distinguished 
from  the  smooth,  and  the  latter  only  was  pronounced.  The 
reason,  again,  why  the  letter  c  was  chosen  to  represent  it  in 
writing,  can  only  be  explained  by  Tuscan  influence,  where, 
not  in  the  older,  but  in  the  later  alphabet,  the  letter  c  desig^ 
riated  the  smooth.  In  this  manner  they  wrote  at  Rome  at 
the  time,  when  the  XII  tables  were  composed  and  the  "  leges 
regiae"  were  written  :  hence  appears,  that  at  that  period  a 
considerable  time  had  already  elapsed  after  the  first  stage  of 
the  Tuscan  and  Latin  alphabets,  and  that  the  time,  when  it 
was  agreed  that  the  letter  c  was  to  represent  the  sound  of  g 
in  Gaius,  and  K  that  of,  the  guttural  smooth,  in  Kaeso, 


10  LATIN  ALPHABET. 

Kalendae,  Karthago,  kalumnia,  kaput,  dates  long  before  the 
year  300,  A.  U.  C.  When,  subsequently,  the  Latin  element 
again  rose,  and,  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Tuscans,  the 
Roman  system  of  sounds  again  became  prevalent,  the  want 
was  felt  of  expressing  the  middle  as  well  as  the  smooth  c." 

If  Mr.  Mommsen  bases  his  theory  on  an  immigration  of 
large  bodies  of  Etruscans,  we  fear  that  it  rests  on  a  rather 
precarious  foundation,  since  history  does  not  warrant  any  such 
statement.*  The  Luceres  of  Romulus,  in  case  they  ever 
existed,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  so  very  numerous.  And 
as  regards  the  intimations  of  the  emperor  Claudius,  that  king 
Servius  was  of  Etruscan  descent,  they  lack  sufficient  confir- 
mation ;  and  when  the  Romans,  upon  making  peace  with 
Porsena,  returned  to  him  that  part  of  the  Etruscan  territory 
which  they  had  conquered,  it  scarcely  amounted  to  more  than 
one-third  of  their  dominions,  at  the  utmost  valuation.  More- 
over, since  no  traces  whatever  are  discovered  in  the  Latin 
language  of  the  Etruscan  element,  it  can  scarcely  be  imagined 
that  the  Etruscan  language  ever  exerted  such  a  powerful 
influence  upon  the  Latin,  as  to  change  the  pronunciation  of 
any  of  its  sounds.  Now,  by  disproving  the  fact,  that  the 
Latin  language  ever  became  impeded  by  the  Etruscan,  the 
whole  theory  of  Messrs.  Corssen  and  Mommsen  falls  to  the 
ground,  and  we  have  to  admit,  either  that  the  Latin  member 
of  the  Indo-European  chain  of  languages  had  originally  only 
the  hard  guttural  sound,  viz.:  the  guttural  smooth,  which 

*  Schwegler,  Romische  Geschichte,  1853,  Vol.  I.,  pag.  273-278. 
Lange.  Romische  Alterthiimer,  Vol.  I.,  pag.  55.  1856,  where  he  says : 
"  The  influence  of  Etruria  on  Latium,  and  particularly  upon  Rome, 
has  been  overrated  for  a  time,  but  in  modern  times  it  has  very  justly 
been  discredited."  Even  Mommsen  himself,  in  his  Roman  History, 
published  four  years  after  his  "  UnteritalischeDialecte,"  1854,  says, 
Vol.  I.,  page  86  : — "  As  much  as  we  can  see,  during  the  entire  period, 
when  Rome  was  under  the  government  of  kings,  Etruria  did  not 
exercise  any  essential  influemr  either  on  the  language  or  the  customs 
of  Rome,  and  much  less  has  it  interrupted  the  symmetrical  develop- 
ment of  the  Roman  state  and  the  Latin  alliances." 


LATIN   ALPHABET.  11 

was  afterwards,  in  a  certain  number  of  stems,  softened  into 
the  middle,  (which  hypothesis  is  not  at  all  improbable,)  or, 
we  must  suppose,  that  it  had  originally  a  guttural  middle, 
which,  in  former  times,  shared  its  character  with  the  guttural 
smooth  k,  until  the  Romans  invented  a  new  sign  for  it. 

In  favor  of  the  first  hypothesis,  we  may  say  that  the  stronger 
sound  is  usually  the  older,  and  not  vice  versa,  e.  g.,  in  one 
of  the  oldest  words,  the  personal  pronoun  of  the  first  person, 
viz.  :  Goth.,  ik,  Saxon,  ic,  Dutch,  ikt  Scand.  jag,  (jah),  jeg, 
(jeh),  Germ,  ich,  Suabian,  ih,  Eugl.  7,  and  again  Lat.  ego, 
French,  je,  Ital.  lo  for  ejo,  (eyo,)  Span,  yo  for  eyo,  iyo,  Port. 
eu  for  ehu  or  eyu,  Greek,  eyw,  Aeol.  tw. 

As  regards  the  other  hypothesis,  we  have  repeated  proofs, 
in  various  languages,  that  several  sounds  are  expressed  by 
one  written  character,  e.  g.,  in  English,  each  of  the  vowel- 
signs  represents  two  or  three  different  sounds,  the  letter  g  is 
pronounced  differently  in  geese  and  genitive,  in  giver  and 
giant ;  in  German,  "ch"  is  pronounced  like  k  before  s,  (as  in 
Fuchs,  fox,  ochs,  ox,)  and  yet  it  is  spelled  ch,  and  the  vowel 
e  in  legen,  weit  and  Leute,  is  pronounced  quite  differently  in 
leben,  breit,  Freude.  Although  the  French  have  a  guttural 
middle  character,  they  still  pronounce  universally  (according 
to  Du  Yivier,  in  his  "  Grammaire  des  Grammaires,")  the 
letter  c  in  second,  like  g,  which  word  is  spelled  segundo  both 
by  the  Spaniards  and  the  Portuguese.  The  Greek  translation 
of  the  septuagint,  in  the  proper  nouns,  shows  that  the  Hebrew 
Am,  like  the  Ararnean  (cfr.  y  in  y-\  #  and  p-)  ft,  earth,)  and 

the  Arabic,  had  several  pronunciations ;  and  the  Arabs  also, 
if  they  would  follow  the  advice  of  Mr.  Wallin,  (Zeitschrift 
der  deutschen  morgenlandisehen  Gesellschaft,)  would  have  to 
invent  several  new  signs. 

Rather  than  admit  such  a  temporary  deterioration  of  the 
Latin,  we  would  regard  the  letter  c  as  an  abbreviation  of  the  x\ 
letter  k  or  kappa  K,  C»  C»  where  all  we  want  to  make  it 
look  like  c  is  to  drop  the  perpendicular  line  on  the  left,  which 
has  been  done  in  some  of  the  alphabets,  see  Mommscn,  pages 
2 


12  LATIN   ALPHABET. 

6,  7.  Since  the  Italian  nations  were  no  learned  grammarians, 
they  contented  themselves  with  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  as 
they  found  them,  even  when  the  sounds  therein  represented 
did  not  altogether  coincide  with  their  own ;  we  need  but 
remind  our  readers  of  the  promiscuous  use  of  the  short  e  and  i, 
and  the  dropping  and  retaining  of  the  final  m  and  s,  sometimes 
in  words  of  the  same  inscriptions. 

At  the  time  of  the  first  Punic  war,  a  new  letter,  g,  was 
invented  for  the  guttural  middle,  and  by  a  manumitted  slave 
of  Sp.  Carvilius  Ruga,  (who  held  school  in  Rome,  and  first 
used  it  in  writing,)  was  inserted  in  the  alphabet  between  P 
and  H,  in  the  place  of  the  letter  Z,  which  had  become  obsolete 
and  was  deemed  unnecessary.  At  the  time  of  Cicero  the 
Greek,  v  (y)  was  adopted  for  foreign  words,  especially  for 
Greek ;  about  the  same  time  also,  the  Greek  aspirates  £,  <p,  %, 
were  expressed  by  th,  ph,  ch,  and  the  letter  Z,  which  had  been 
cast  off,  was  re-adopted  and  placed  at  the  end  of  the  Latin 
alphabet.  Thus  the  Latin  alphabet  finally  consisted  of  the 
following  twenty-three  letters : 

A,  B,  C,  D,  E,  P,  G,  H,  I,  K,  L,  M,  1ST,  O,  P,  Q,  R,  S, 
T,  Y,  X,  Y,  Z. 

Yerrius  Flaccus,  the  learned  cotemporary  of  Yarro  (127  — 
116  before  Christ,)  proposed  to  introduce  a  new  sign  for  the 
final  m,  (at  the  close  of  words,)  which  had  an  obscure  and 
indistinct  sound  and  was  frequently  omitted  in  old  Latin 
writings.  YeL  Long,  says,  (p.  22,  28,)  "  Nonnulli  synalce- 
phas  quoque  observandas  circa  talem  scriptionem  existi- 
maverunt,  sicut  Verrius  Flaccus,  ut  ubicunque  prima  vox 
m  litter  a  finiretur,  sequens  a  vocali  inciperet,  |V|  non  tola, 
sed  pars  illius  prior,  |V  scriberetur,  ut  appareat  exprimi 
non  debere."  It  does  not,  however,  appear  that  the  proposed 
character  was  ever  employed  in  writing. 

The  Emperor  Claudius,  who  was  a  philologer,  (Fr.  Bueche- 
ler,  De  Ti.  Claudio  Caesare  Grammatico,)  commanded  that 
in  order  to  distinguish  the  letter  v  from  the  vowel  u,  the 
former  should  be  expressed  by  the  inverted  digamma  d,  also, 


LATIN   ALPHABET.  13 

that  the  Greek  letter  4  =  bs,  ps,  should  be  represented  by  the 
antisigma  O,  and  the  intermediate  sound  between  i  and  u  by 
the  Greek  breathing  \>-  The  first  and  last  of  these  three 
characters  are,  accordingly,  often  found  in  inscriptions,  dating 
from  this  time.  The  spellings  of  ai  instead  of  ae,  and  of  oi  for 
03,  which  appear  in  the  same  inscriptions,  are,  no  doubt,  inno-  <  ~" 
vations  caused  by  him  ;  but  they  perished  at  the  same  time 
with  their  originator. 

Since  the  Latin  consonants  in  the  beginning  and  middle  of 
words  were  usually  pronounced  stronger,  fuller  and  heavier, 
they  were  generally  not  sharpened  in  the  old  Latin  by  ^ 
doubling  ;  hence,  also,  they  very  seldom  appear  doubled  in 
inscriptions  before  the  times  of  Ennius  ;  but  by  his  example 
from  the  time  of  the  second  Macedonian  war,  this  mode  of 
sharpening  or  strengthening  became  generally  prevalent,  and 
has  been  universally  adopted  after  the  times  of  the  Gracchi. 
(Ritschl  Tit.  Mumm.,  p.  4  ;  Mon.  Epigr.  tria,  pag.  10,  32, 
tit.  Aletrin.  IV.,  VI.  ;  Rhein.  Mus.  IX.  12,  13.)  Instead 
of  doubling  the  Sicilians,  also,  was  sometimes  employed  ; 
Mar.  Victor.,  p.  2456,  "  Antiqui  —  supra  litteram  quam 
geminari  oportebat  scilicet  Sicilicum  imponebant,  cujus 
figura  haec  est3,  quod  erat  signum  geminandi,  sicut  appa- 
ret  in  multis  adhuc  veteribus  ita  scriptis  libris.  (Isidor. 
Origg.  I.  26.)  "  Ubi  litterae  consonantes  geminabantur, 
sicilicum  superponebant  id  sefa,  ser*a,  as*eres."  This 
mode  of  writing,  however,  became  soon  obsolete,  and  is  never 
found  in  inscriptions. 

In  order  to  express  the  long  vowels  a,  e,  u,  in  writing,  the 
tragedian  Accius,  according  to  Yel.  Long.,  proposed  to 
double  them.  "  Accius  geminatis  vocalibus  scribi  natura 
longas  syllabas  voluit,  cum  alioquin  adjecto  vel  sublato 
apice  longitudinis  et  brevitatis  nota  posset  ostendi."  Ac- 
cording to  Ritschl,  this  mode  of  writing  is  found  in  inscrip- 
tions from  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  to  the  Consulship  of 
Cicero,  e.  g.,  Albaana,  Vaarus,  paastores,  haace,  Maarco, 
Maarcium,  Feelix,  luuci,  Muucio,  pequlatuu,  uutei,  leege, 


14  LATIN  ALPHABET. 

seedes,  ee,  leegei.  The  vowel  o  Accius  did  not  double, 
because  it  was  not  done  in  the  Oscan  language ;  nor  the 
Towel  I,  because  E I  was  used  instead  at  his  time ;  still,  this 
mode  of  spelling  was  never  generally  adopted.  The  double 
I  =  II  could  not  be  used  to  express  the  long  I,  because  it  was 
frequently  put  instead  of  E  ;  see  Mommsen,  Rhein.  Mus.  X., 
142;  wherefore,  in  olden  times,  El  was  not  only  written  in 
the  place  of  the  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  I,  but  also 
for  the  proper  sound  of  I.  Besides  the  digraph  El,  as  early 
as  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  a  tall  letter  I  likewise,  extending 
above  the  rest,  was  used  for  this  purpose  ;  see  Ritschl,  Rhein. 
Mus.  VIII.  494;  Mommsen,  Rhein.  Mus.  X.  142.  Thus 
we  find,  Popllius,  Calld.,  qulnque,  Qulnctilio,  llctor, 
trlstior,  etc.  When,  at  the  time  of  Augustus,  the  spelling 
of  E I  became  obsolete,  the  use  of  the  tall  I  became  more 
general,  and  it  is  found  in  the  very  best  and  most  complete 
monuments  of  the  times  of  Augustus,  as  in  the  inscriptions 
of  the  obelisks,  in  the  cenotaphs  of  Pisa,  the  two  funeral 
orations,  and  generally,  in  the  inscriptions  dating  from  the 
times  of  the  early  emperors,  while  the  other  long  vowels  were 
marked  by  the  apex  which  was  placed  over  them.  For,  since 
the  time  of  Augustus,  a  third  mode  of  pointing  out  the  long 
vowels  was  introduced,  viz.,  by  placing  an  apex  over  the 
vowels.  From  Weil's  and  Benloew's  "  Theorie  generate  de 
PAccentuation  Latine,"  Chapt.  XII. ,  des  inscriptions  accen- 
tuees,  p.  293-348,  it  appears  that  this  apex  (Quint.  I,  T,  2. 
I.  4,  10;  Vel.  Long.,  p.  2220;  Ter.  Scaur.,  p.  2253,)  in 
inscriptions  had  usually  the  form  _>_,  seldom  the  form  J_  ^, 
and  in  manuscripts  also,  the  form  —  (Isid.  Origg.  I.  4,  18.) 
The  apex  replaced  the  second  of  the  two  vowel-signs  by 
which  Accius  expressed  the  long  vowels,  and,  as  the  apo- 
strophe indicates  the  place  of  a  vowel  which  is  omitted,  so  also 
the  apex  shows  that  a  vowel  is  long.  Mr.  Corssen  says,  that 
the  placing  of  the  apex  is  most  carefully  observed  in  the 
monuments  handed  down  to  us  from  the  times  of  Augustus  to 
Claudius,  particularly  in  public  documents,  and  in  other 


LATIN   ALPHABET.  15 

similar  writings  which  required  to  be  written  carefully.  la 
most  of  these  writings  the  tall  letter  I,  also,  is  used  to  express 
the  long  I.  From  the  examples  given  by  Mr.  Corssen,  we 
select  the  following  where  the  vowel  is  not  generally  supposed 
to  be  long,  viz.,  dctus,  exactus,  red  i  eta,  dtri,  Mdrtio,  trans- 
lata,  veni£ns,  rjgni,  nolens,  notcsceret,  defici6ns,  ctfnsto, 
c  nsecrat,  bdsque,  ornamentum,  ornatissima,  clnsecuta, 
debeo,  jus,  lucti,  justi,  ulli,  tissu,  (assimil.  for  utsu),  ultra, 
sejunctum.  Still,  however  little  we  find  of  strict  regularity 
in  the  inscriptions,  as  regards  orthography,  we  find  just  as 
little  in  the  marking  of  long  vowels  by  the  apex ;  indeed, 
there  is  scarcely  a  single  inscription,  where  the  apex  is  em- 
ployed throughout  and  in  the  right  place.  Subsequently  to 
the  third  century  after  Christ  especially,  when  the  common 
people  were  no  longer  conscious  which  of  the  vowels  were 
short  and  which  long,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  the  mark, 
expressing  the  length  of  the  vowels,  would  be  either  frequently 
omitted  or  wrongly  used.  The  fact  that  the  quantity,  in  in- 
scriptions of  the  best  times,  is  expressed  by  the  apex,  furnishes 
us  with  a  clear  proof  that  the  accent  of  a  word  was  never 
expressed  in  the  Latin  by  the  marks  _L  _L  ::_,  which  were 
employed  for  this  purpose  in  Greek  ;  for  in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage they  were  used  to  express  the  quantity,  and  there  is  no 
trace  of  any  sign  whatever,  marking  the  accent,  either  in 
inscriptions  or  manuscripts.  Mr.  Corssen,  in  closing  this 
subject  makes  the  following  remark  :  "  Since  the  place  of  the 
accent  in  Latin  words  was  much  more  definite  and  dependent 
upon  quantity,  than  in  the  Greek,  it  was  at  once  known, 
which  syllable  had  the  accent,  by  pointing  out  which  vowel  in 
the  word  was  long,  inasmuch  as  the  end-syllables  were  always 
unaccented,  and,  therefore,  the  Latins  could  much  better  dis- 
pense with  a  sign  for  the  accent,  than  the  Greeks,  in  whose 
language  the  laws  of  accentuation  were  more  various  and  less 
limited." 

2* 


16  CONSONANTS. 

CONSONANTS. 

Gutturals. 
C. 

Before  entering  with  Mr.  Corssen  upon  a  discussion  of  the 
pronunciation  of  each  of  the  Roman  letters,  we  must  remind 
our  readers  that  we  cannot  expect  the  uneducated  Romans  to 
have  been  as  punctiliously  correct  in  penning  their  inscriptions 
and  other  writings,  as  learned  grammarians  would  have  been  ; 
that  there  is  a  possibility,  consequently,  that,  in  writing  down 
sounds,  they  at  times  used  letters,  strictly  representative  of 
other  sounds,  to  which,  however,  they  have  a  resemblance  ; 
and  that  this  might  have  been  the  case,  even  supposing  the 
Romans  to  have  been  very  particular  in  representing  each 
sound  of  their  language  by  a  corresponding  letter.  We  must, 
therefore,  admit  the  possibility  that,  at  a  time,  when  the 
letter  b  still  sounded  quite  differently  from  the  letter  v,  bicsit 
may  have  been  written  instead  of  vicsit  or  vixit,  Burrus 
instead  of  Pyrrhus,  that  the  Greek  word  ^pta^jS?,  may  have 
been  spelled  in  Latin  triampe,  the  Greek  letter  <p  represented 
by  the  entirely  different  letter  f,  instead  of  ph,  and  so  forth. 

The  fact  that  the  letter  c,  through  the  entire  duration  of 
the  western  Roman  empire,  had  the  sound  of  k  is  proved, 

1.  by  words  handed  down  from  the  most   ancient   times  as 
Aeketiai  instead   of  Aequit>ae  (Ritschl,  de  fict.   litt.    Lat. 
antiqu.  p.   17),  and  dekem  [bres~]  instead  of  Decembres,  in 
the  very  ancient  inscription  of  the  Columbarium  of  Somaschi; 

2.  by  the  Greeks,  when   they  commenced  to  transfer  Latin 
words  into  their  own  language  and  to  spell  them  with  their 
own  letters,  always  expressing  the  letter  c  by  k,  even  before 
the  vowels  e  and  i ;  as  is  shown  in  the  following  examples 
which  are  selected  by  Mr.  C.  from  among  many  others,  e.  g. 
Kvjvaov,  censum,  K<-v*»piWj,  centuriones,  (Polyb.)   Kpntaxn"tiva, 
(Dio  Cassius),  jtoirtlyixf.s,   (Dion.    Halic.),   itpiyxlitia,,  (Plut.) 


GUTTUBALS.  17 

3.  by   the   Romans,    as   soon   as   they  commenced  to   spell 
Greek  words  in  their  own  language,  always  using  the  letter 
c  to  express  the  Greek  letter  x,  e.  g.  Cecrops,  Cilix,  Cybele, 
cedrinus,   Cimon,  cygnus,  cera,  cerasus,  cithara,  Cyprus, 
cetus,  etc.  ; 

4.  by  those  Latin  words  which   in  the  time  of  the   empire 
were  received   in  the  Gothic  tongue,  and   in  other  German 
dialects,  and  in  which  the  letter  c  was  invariably  rendered  by 
the  letter  k.  , 

Gothic.  Latin.  Mod.  German.          Latin. 

aikeits,  acetum,  Kaiser,  Caesar, 

aurkeis,  urceus,  Keller,  cellarium, 

karkara,  career,  Kerker,  career, 

lukarn  lucerna  Kerbel,  cerefolium, 

Kirsche,  cerasus, 

Kicher,  cicer ; 

5.  by  the  fact  that  the  letters  c,  g,  k  and  q  are  used  indis-     ^ 
criminately  in  inscriptions  from  the  most  ancient  to  the  latest 
times,  while  the  letter  c  still  preserved   its   guttural    sound 
before   the   vowels   e    and   i,    e.    g.    Ceminius    (Geminius), 
cenialis    (genialis),    Primicenius    (primigenius),     Vercilia 
(Yirgilia),    Cintus  (Quintus),  liquebit  (licebit),  requiesquet 
(requiescit),    quaesquenti   (quiescenti),    quesquit    (quiescitj, 
cesquet  (quiescit),  sici-s  (siquis)  ; 

6.  by  the  writing  of  Latin  words  with  Greek  characters  in 
documents  of  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  after  Christ, 
e.   g.,  Sfxti,,  Sfxip,  for  decem;  <pix<,-c,  <pixtt,  yyxit,  for  fecit ; 
^ft-xafpeyt,  for  fece runt ;  rtaxsKpixos,  for  pacificus  ;  vsv&etpt,xai9 
for  venditrici;  Swyarptja,  for  donatrici ,   xpovxs$,  for  cruces  ; 
(3iXfdu>ij,£vo^  for  vicedominus  ;  xipetats,  for  civitate  ; 

7.  by   the    Roman    grammarians    of    the    fourth    and    fifth 
centuries  declaring  the  two  letters  c  and  k  to  be  so  perfectly 
identical,  as  to  be  inclined  to  regard  one  of  the  two  as  super- 
fluous ;  also  by  their  never  mentioning  any  different  pronun- 
ciation of  the  letter  c  before  any  of  the  vowels     This  statement 

TV? 


18  CONSONANTS. 

is  made  by  Diez,  in  his  "  Grammatik  der  romanischen 
Sprachen,"  I.  197,  and  Mr.  Corssen  is  right  in  endorsing  it. 

The  case  is  different,  however,  with  the  sound  of  the  letter 
c,  when  followed  by  two  vowels  ia,  ie,  and  io,  in  which  case  a 
wavering  i*s  observed,  in  the  inscriptions,  even  in  the  second 
century  after  Christ,  between  the  spelling  of  ci  and  ti,  and  as 
the  same  thing  is  observed  in  the  manuscripts,  we  must  con- 
clude, that  this  tendency  towards  an  interchange  between  ci 
and  ti  dates  to  a  somewhat  earlier  period  in  the  history  of 
the  Roman  language,  and  that  it,  in  the  course  of  time, 
developed  itself  still  more.  Again,  as  it  is  a  thing  unheard 
of  in  the  Latin  language,  that  the  guttural  smooth  changes 
into  the  dental  or  lingual  t,  or  vice  versa,  when  they  are 
placed  between  two  vowels,  Mr.  Corssen  concludes  further, 
that  the  ground  of  this  development  of  the  same  pronuncia- 
tion in  two  consonants  which  are  originally  entirely  distinct 
from  each  other,  is  to  be  sought  for  in  the  combination  of  the 
vowels  ia,  io,  iu,  ie,  when  they  are  preceded  by  the  consonants 
t  and  c.  Mr.  Corssen's*  idea  is,  that  the  vowel  i  was  first 
changed  into  the  serai-vowel  j,  which  is  equivalent  to  the 
English  y  in  year,  you,  etc.  This  semi-vowel  is  very  nearly 
allied  to  the  sibilant  letter  s,  and  when  it  is  pronounced 
rapidly  before  another  vowel,  and  is  at  the  same  time  preceded 
by  the  consonants  c  or  t,  it  very  easily  passes  over  into  this 
sibilant  letter.  After  the  vowel  i  has  by  this  means  become 
sibilant,  it  afterwards  assimilates  or  "  assibilates"  the  preced- 
ing guttural  letter.  This  process  can  be  traced  in  the  Um- 
brian,  Volscian  and  Oscan  languages,  as  well  as  in  the  Greek, 

viz.,    juaxuov,    juacrorcoi',    o&tyt'tM',     oXt^wi/,     rta#uof,    Ttatfffwv,    (^xt'cov,) 

vjoaw,  ra^uot/,  ^aflaiov.  This  sibilation,  which  at  first  was  quite 
weak,  in  the  course  of  time  extended  itself  to  the  syllables  ce 
and  ci,  when  not  followed  by  any  other  vowel. 

To  this  we  would  add,  that  in  the  sibilation  of  the  letter  c 


*  In  conformity  with  Mr.  A.  SCHLEICHER  in  his  ' '  Sprachvergleichende 
Untersuchungen, "  etc.,  Bonn,  1848. 


GUTTUKALS.  19 

before  e  and  i,  we  may  distinguish  in  the  Romaneeidioms, 
several  stages  cff.  development.  In  the  first  stage  it  sounded 
like  ts  or  like  the  German  arid  Italian  letter  Z  ;*  this  we  find 
illustrated  by  the  Latin  words,  transferred  into  the  Greek 
language  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  eenturie^in  which  the  Lati 
letter  c  is  no  longer  regularly  expressed  by  the  Greek  *,  but  by 
the  letters  t  ?,  e.  g.  r^'pra,  ivfjep-rof,  incertos  (in  the  Basilics  ;) 
it  is  further  illustrated  by  the  Latin  words,  received  at  that 
time,  in  the  German  language,  e.  g.  Zelle,  Zirkel,  Zither,  also 
by  the  pronunciation  of  the  letter  c  in  the  Spanish  language, 
before  e  and  i,  where  it  sounds  very  much  like  the  sibilant 
letter  th  of  the  English ;  but  above  all,  by  many  words  in  the 
Old  Italian  language,  when  it  first  began  to  develop  itself 
from  the  Latin.  In  these  words  the  Latin  letter  c  is  expressed 
by  the  Italian  letter  z  =  ts,  e.  g.  offizio,  uffizio,  giudizio, 
( judicium),  zeppa,  (cippus,)  calza,  (calcea)  ;  subsequently, 
in  the  modern  Italian  language,  (and  the  North  Walachian, 
Diez.,  II.  p.  233,)  when  the  letter  c,  before  e  and  i,  entered 
upon  its  second  state  of  sibilation,  the  original  letter  c  was 
again  restored,  but  was  weakened  into  tsh,  e.  g.  officio, 
giudicio  The  letter  c  is  also  preserved  in  its  first  stage  of 
sibilation  in  some  South  Walachian  words,  as  atze  (acies), 
atzet  (acetum),  and  in  Germany  it  is  still  universally  so  pro- 
nounced. In  the  modern  Italian  and  the  North  Walachian 
languages  we  find  the  letter  c  in  its  second  stage  of  sibilation, 
when  it  sounds  like  tsh  ;  and  in  the  other  Roman  languages 
of  the  West,  finally,  and  also  in  the  English,  in  its  third  stage, 
where  it  acquires  the  sound  of  the  sharp  s  or  sh. 

One  peculiarity  of  the  guttural  smooth,  in  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, is  noted  by  Mr.  Corssen,  viz.  that  it  is  lost  before  the 
letters  n  and  t,  and  the  liquids  r  and  1,  when  followed  by  t  and 
s,  viz.  aranea  (apa^^),  deni  (decem),  lana  (xa^i/^),  quini 


*  Still  now-a-days  in  the  South  Walachian  and  in  some  Italian  and 
Portuguese  dialects,  cfr.  Diez,  Gr.  d.  R.,  Spr.  pp.  232,  233. 


20  CONSONANTS. 

(quinque),  luna  (luceo),  artus  (arceo),  fartus  (farcire),  tor- 
tus  (torqueo),  parsimonia  (parco),  cortis/fifyxos),  mulsi, 
mulsum  (mulceo),  etc.  (fy 

K. 

The  letter  K  had  precisely  the  same  sound  and  signification 
as  the  letter  C,  but  from  the  most  ancient  times  it  was  pre- 
served only,  when  the  words  Kaeso,  Kalendae,  Kalumnia, 
Kaput,  were  written  with  capital  letters,  as  may  also  appear 
from  Quint.  I.  4,  9  ;  Yel.  Long.,  p.  2218  ;  Terent.  Scaur., 
p.  2252 ;  Ter.  Maur.,  p.  2400 ;  likewise,  in  the  ancient 
inscription  of  the  columbarium  of  the  Yigna  Somaschi,  the 
abbreviation  dekem.  occurs  instead  of  Decembres.  Some 
grammarians  recommended  to  write  k  instead  of  c,  whenever 
it  is  followed  by  the  vowel  a.  This  theory,  also,  is  found 
confirmed  by  many  inscriptions  in  which  we  find  the  following 
words  :  Karissimo,  Karissimae,  Karo,  arkarei,  arkarius, 
Kristus,  but  it  has  never  been  generally  adopted. 

Q. 

The  Latin  letter  Q  took  its  origin  from  the  Doric  Koppa 
of  the  Cuman  alphabet,  but  it  developed  itself  in  a  manner 
of  its  own,  in  the  Latin  language.  It  is  one  letter,  represent- 
ing a  single  sound,  generated  in  a  regular  manner  from  the 
guttural  smooth  k  or  c.  The  letter  v  or  u  by  which  it  is 
followed,  neither  represents  a  full  vowel  nor  consonant,  but 
describes  a  sort  of  vocal-labial  after-sound,  which  before  the 
vowel  a  sounded  like  w,  before  the  vowels  se,  e  and  i  like  a 
mute  v,  and  when  it  was  followed  by  u,  coalesced  with  it  in  a 
simple  u,  so  that  in  olden  times,  especially  since  the  time  of 
Accius,  QY  was  written  and  pronounced  instead  of  QYY, 
and  in  later  times  CY.  Hence,  QY  is  the  point  of  transition, 
where  the  guttural  smooth  k  passes  into  the  labial  p,  as  is 
shown  by  Mr.  Corssen  in  the  following  scheme. 


GUTTURALS. 

21 

K. 

Qu. 

P- 

Sanscr. 

kis,           Latin. 

quis, 

Umbr. 

) 

Sab. 

r        . 

Osc. 

) 

" 

kirn, 

quera, 

Osc. 

pirn, 

41 

kat, 

quod, 

pi 

pod, 

n 

kam, 

quam, 

" 

pam, 

pan, 

Umbr. 

pa, 

Latin. 

cujus>          " 

quojus, 

Osc. 

pieis, 

" 

cui, 

quoiei, 

" 

piei, 

11 

cum,             " 

quom, 

" 

pon, 

ii 

cumque,        H 

quomque, 

*' 

punipe, 

cunque, 

Greek. 

x6<s*i,             " 

quanta, 

Umbr. 

panta, 

Greek. 

ttoori, 

Sanscr. 

tfatvar,          " 

quattuor, 

Umbr. 

petur, 

Osc. 

petiro, 

Greek. 

«v<wp^ 

tt 

quinque, 

" 

Kip**, 

Sanscr. 

pancah, 

ii 

quintum, 

Osc. 

pomtis, 

Latin. 

cocus,         " 

co  quo, 

Latin, 

popina, 

Sanscr. 

pac, 

Greek, 

rtfTtco, 

n 

a§vas,           " 

equus, 

Latin, 

Epona, 

Greek. 

I'xxos, 

Greek, 

r**oc. 

Latin. 

secundus,    " 

sequor, 

" 

i'Tto^uat, 

" 

relicuos,      *' 

linquo, 

" 

TlftTtW, 

it 

torculus,      " 

torqueo, 

11 

-fpfrtco, 

oculus, 

"          insece,  " 

Greek,    xvxoj,  Saner,  vrkas,  Greek,  x  v  9  05.  Latin,         lupus. 

G. 

The  letter  g  or  the  guttural  middle  has  been  formed  at  a 
later  period  from  C,  and  makes  its  first  appearance  at  the 


22  CONSONANTS. 

time  of  the  first  Punic  war.  The  fact  that  the  letter  g,  in 
some  words,  in  later  times,  took  the  place  of  a  former  c, 
applies  merely  to  the  writing,  as  we  have  seen  above,  and  not 
to  the  sound  itself,  and  therefore,  the  question  whether  there 
was  originally  a  guttural  middle  and  smooth  in  the  Latin 
language  which  were  both  represented  by  the  same  character, 
or  whether  the  original  smooth,  at  a  later  period,  in  some 
stems  was  softened  into  the  middle,  remains  undecided. 
Among  those  words  which  in  the  oldest  documents  were 
spelled  with  c,  and  afterwards  with  g,  are  the  following : 
before  a  gamelum  for  camelum,  gaunaceam  for  caunaceam, 
before  o,  gobius,  *w/3to$,  negotium  for  nec-otium,  congordia 
for  concordia  ;  before  u,  gubernator  for  xv^^vr^r^^gummi  for 
xoppi,  gurgulio  for  curculio ;  before  i,  triginta  for  tpidxovta, 
mugio  for  pvxdopcu ;  before  e,  Germalus  for  cermalus  ;  before 
I,  negligo  for  nee-lego  ;  before  r,  grabatus  for  xpdpato$ ;  before 
n,  Progne  for  ilpo*^  and  many  others. 

In  some  cases  the  letter  g  is  destroyed,  e.  g.  before  I,  lactis 
(glactis)  yaxaxros ;  before  n,  natus  (gnatus,)  navus  (i-gnavus,) 
narrare  (gnarigare,  gnarus),  notus  (gnotus),  nosco  (cog- 
nosco)  ;  before  s,  when  preceded  by  I  or  r,  algeo,  alsi ;  mulgeo 
mulsi ;  fulgeo  fulsi ;  indulgeo  indulsi ;  spargo  sparsi,  tergeo 
tersi,  tersum  ;  before  t,  autor,  autumnus  (augeo)  ;  before  m, 
examen  (exagmen,  exigere),  flamen  (flag,  ^y — flagrare), 
(fulmen  for  fulgmen,  fulgeo)  ;  before  i,  after  it  has  first 
changed  into  j,  for  the  sake  of  euphony,  maior  for  magior, 
mains  for  magius,  meio  for  miio,  migio,  puleium  for  pulegium. 

There  are  some  traces  left,  showing  that  the  assibilation  of 
g  before  e  and  i  which  is  found  in  the  Italian,  French  and 
Portuguese  languages,  has  been  prepared  in  the  latest  Latin 
vulgar  tongue,  see  Corssen  L,  45,  46. 

H. 

Concerning  the  letter  h,  MR.  CORSSEN  says,  I.,  p.  46,  "  The 
breathing  sound  h,  which  is  a  mere  ejection  of  the  breath 


GUTTURALS.  23 

from  the  wind-pipe,  was  originally  found  combined  iu  the 
Indo-European  languages  with  the  solid  gutturals,  dentals 
(linguals)  and  labials,  with  which  it  formed  the  aspirates  bh, 
ph,  gh,  ch,  dh,  and  th.  Through  the  intensity  of  the  breath- 
ing, the  solid  ingredients,  i.  e.  the  mute  consonants  were 
afterwards  frequently  lost  and  the  breathing  sound  h  was  all 
that  remained." 

When  the  Romans  adopted  the  Cuman  alphabet,  the  gut- 
tural aspirate  does  not  seem  to  have  fitted  their  tongue,  as 
they  have  no  particular  letter,  distinguishing  it  from  the  mere 
breathing  sound,  and  as,  subsequently,  in  the  times  of  Cicero, 
they  expressed  the  Greek  letter  X  in  Greek  words  imported 
into  their  own  language,  by  the  letters  ch.  The  fact  that 
some  relic  of  the  guttural  aspirate  still  remained  in  their 
language,  is  shown  by  the  forms  Traho,  traxi,  tractum,  arid 
Veho,  vexi,  vectum,  whose  letter  h  could  not  have  turned 
into  the  smooth,  before  the  sharp  letters  s  and  t,  unless  some 
vestige  of  the  guttural  aspirate  was  still  preserved  in  their 
sound.  As  a  general  thing  the  letter  h  in  Latin  represents 
the  same  breathing,  which  is  described  in  Greek  by  the  spiri- 
tus  asper  or  hard  breathing. 

The  Latin  h  very  frequently  took  its  origin  from  the  pecu- 
liar Italic  sound/;  for  instance,  we  meet  with  the  Latin  harena 
together  with  the  Sabine  fasena,  the  Latin  hircus  with  the 
Sabine  fircus,  hedus,  edus,  aedus  together  with  fedus,  see 
Yarro  1. 1.  Y.  91 ;  Yel.  Long.  p.  2230,  2238,  Henop,  de  Lingua 
Sabina,  p.  It.  Within  the  Latin  language  itself  we  find  hoedus 
for  foedus,  holus  forfolus,  hostis  forfostis,  hostia  forfostia, 
Test. ;  Hormiae  for  Formiae,  Plin.  ;  hordus  for  fordus,  haba 
forfaba  [compare  also  Span,  haba,  Port.  fava,~\  hariolus  for 
fariolus,  hebris  for  febris,  Serv.  Yirg.  Aen.  YIL,  1693.  In 
the  dialect  of  the  Faliscians  we  also  find  habam  instead  of 
fabam,  Ter.  Scaur.  In  a  similar  manner  we  find.wiTu  for 
mifi,  although  this  dates  as  far  back  as  the  Sanscrit ;  in  the 
Umbrian,  however,  we  find  tefe,  which  is  changed  in  the  Latin 
into  tibi. 
3 


24  CONSONANTS. 

The  semi-vowel  j,  (Engl.  y)  became  h  and  was  subsequently 
also  dropped,  e.  g.  ahenum,  TJmbr.  ahesnes,  Sanscr.  ajas 
(iron)  ;  Mahestinus  instead  of  Majestinus. — As  regards  the 
dropping  of  the  letter  h  we  even  find  in  the  "  Senatuscon- 
sultum  de  Bacchanalibus"  abuisse  instead  of  habuisse,  but 
on  the  other  hand,  harenam  instead  of  arenam. 

With  respect  to  Quintilian's  statement,  which  Mr.  C.  en- 
dorses, that  the  ancients  very  rarely  used  the  breathing  letter 
h,  which  he  proves  by  their  spelling  oedos  instead  of  hoedos 
and  ircos  instead  of  hircos,  in  ancient  inscriptions,  we  must 
be  careful  how  we  adopt  his  declaration.  We  have  remarked 
above  that,  as  the  ancients  were  no  scholars,  they  were  not  so 
very  particular  in  matters  of  orthography,  but  frequently 
contented  themselves  with  merely  approximating  to  the  sounds 
of  their  words  in  spelling.  Quintilian,  as  little  as  we  ourselves, 
heard  the  ancients  pronounce  those  words,  but  like  us  con- 
cludes, that  inasmuch  as  these  letters  are  wanting  in  the 
inscriptions,  they  also  must  have  been  wanting  in  the  pronun- 
ciation. But  ought  we  to  infer  from  the  spelling  of  the  very 
old  word  duonoro  or  from  the  accusatives  on  the  tombs  of  the 
Scipios,  that  the  letter  m  in  these  accusatives  was  not  pro- 
nounced, because  it  was  not  spelled  ?  As  regards  the  passage 
in  Gellius,  where  Nigidius  Figulus  says,  "  Eusticus  fit  sermo, 
si  aspires  perperam,"  as  the  context  leaves  it  undecided 
what  the  particular  meaning  of  the  passage  is,  we  are  very 
strongly  inclined  to  believe,  that  Figulus  intended  to  reprove 
the  very  same  vice  which  we  notice  in  English  peasants  and 
towns-people,  viz.,  that  of  dropping  their  h's  and  placing  them 
where  they  are  not  needed,  as,  "as  your  haunt  harrived  ?"  If 
this  thing  is  done  in  our  days  by  people  who  ought  to  know 
better,  we  should  not  wonder  that  unlettered  Romans  wrote 
haditus,  hauctoritas,  exhitus. 

Mr.  C&fyssen  closes  his  history  of  the  Roman  breathing 
sound,  by  stating,  that  the  process  of  dropping  the  7i  in  tho 
beginning  of  a  word,  and  eliding  it  in  the  middle,  as  is  shown 
in  the  Italian  language,  was  consummated  at  the  close  of  the 


%k 

LABIALS.  25 

fourth  and  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  after  Christ. 
We  endorse  this  statement  of  Mr.  Corssen,  so  far  as  he  speaks 
of  the  vulgar  tongue,  but  we  hold  that  the  educated  portion 
of  the  Roman  people  still  continued  to  write  and  to  pronounce 
the  letter  h,  as  even  in  the  Italian  language  it  was  not  yet 
entirely  lost,  but  continued  both  to  be  pronounced  and  to  be 
written.  This  we  conclude  from  the  fact  that  the  Latin 
letter  h  was  still  used  for  many  centuries  in  the  old  Italian 
language,  of  which  fact  we  became  convinced,  upon  reading 
an  old  edition  of  Machiavel  in  which,  for  instance  ora  (now) 
is  still  spelled  hora  (hora)  .and  in  support  of  our  argument 
we  claim  the  same  thing  for  the  letter  h,  of  which  Mr.  Corssen, 
page  105,  lays  claim  for  the  letter  n,  which  is  not  expressed 
in  writing,  viz.:  that  the  fact  of  its  not  being  expressed  in 
writing  shows,  that  the  ear  no  longer  discovered  in  it  the 
sound  of  a  full  n. 

LABIALS. 
P. 

The  labial  smooth  p  sounded  in  the  Latin  as  it  does  in  all 
the  other  Indo-European  sister-idioms,  [with  the  single  excep- 
tion of  the  French].  It  partly  grew  out  of  the  guttural  smooth 
through  the  medium  of  the  letter  qu,  as  has  been  shown  above. 
According  to  Mr.  Corssen,  it  very  rarely  developed  itself 
in  the  Latin  language,  from  the  letter  k,  through  the  medium 
of  qu.  Instances  of  this  kind  are  merely  Epona,  derived  from 
equus,  popina  from  coquo  (**'*«),  lupus  from  xv*o$.  Mapalia% 
and,  at  the  same  time,  Magalia,  he  can  only  explain  by  saying, 
that  it  originally  was  spelled  with  the  letter  c,  which,  on  the 
one  hand  was  softened  into  g,  and  on  the  other  hand  was 
changed  into  p. 

Whenever  a  letter  was  thrown  off  at  the  end  of  a  word,  and 
the  letter  p  thus  became  the  last  letter  in  the  word,  it  invaria- 
bly was  softened  into  b;  for  example,  abt  Gr.  arto,  Sanscr. 
apa]  ob,  [Greek  £>*,',]  Umbr.  up,  Sanscr.  upa  ;  subf  Gr.  v*o, 


26  CONSONANTS. 

Sanscr.  upa.  [In  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages  the 
letter  p  before  r  is  changed  into  b,  and  in  the  Italian  and 
French  into  v,  e.  g.  pauper  and  super,  Sp.  and  Port. 
pobre,  sobre,  Ital.  and  French  pauvre,  pnvero,  sovra  and 
sopra.~]  Before  the  sharp  letters  s  and  t  this  letter  b  is  again 
changed  into^>;  and  this  mode  of  writing  prevailed  in  the 
two  last  centuries  of  the  republic ;  for  instance,  apstulit 
optinebit,  supstituta,  opscurus.  The  grammarians  some- 
times followed  the  pronunciation,  and  sometimes  the  ety- 
mology, regarding  the  forms  ab,  ob,  sub,  as  the  primitive 
forms  in  their  language.  Quintilian  affirms  in  the  following 
words  that  the  letter  b  was  pronounced  like  p  before  t,  "  Cum 
dico  obtinuit  secundam  b  literam  ratio  poscit,  aures  magis 
audiunt  p."  Yarro  and  Priscian  in  the  words  urbs,  trabs, 
etc.,  followed  the  etymology,  and  thus  this  remained  the 
prevailing  orthography  of  the  grammarians.  In  the  oldest 
manuscripts  of  Plautus  and  Yirgil,  and  also  in  the  book  of 
Cicero  "  de  republica,"  the  spelling  of  ps  and  pt,  according 
to  the  pronunciation,  is  much  more  frequent  than  in  the  later 
manuscripts  ;  so  also  in  the  Gajus  manuscript  at  Yerona,  and 
in  the  oldest  Cicero  manuscripts  in  general.  In  the  old 
Latin  language  the  letter  p  is  moreover  aspirated  and  becomes 
f  in  of,  whenever  it  is  placed  at  the  end  of  a  word  ;  it  is  pre- 
served, however,  in  Plautus  in  the  form  of  voliip,  instead  of 
volupe. 

In  a  sort  of  mediating  capacity  the  letter  p  is  placed  between 
the  letter  m  and  a  following  dental,  as  em-p-tus,  sum-p-si, 
hiem-p-s.  It  is  wrongly  placed  in  temptare,  instead  of  ten- 
tare,  because  originally  there  is  no  letter  m  in  the  word :  see 
Corssen,  page  54-5T. 

B. 

During  the  better  times  of  the  Latin  language,  that  is,  until 
the  fourth  century  after  Christ,  when  the  vulgar  tongue  was 
fast  breaking  up,  the  middle  labial  letter  b  was  sounded  pre- 
cisely as  it  now  is  among  the  Teutonic  nations.  Mr.  C«  says, 


LABIALS.  27 

among  the  Teutonic  and  Roman  nations,  but  we  know  that 
among  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  the  letter  b  is  sounded 
more  softly,  and,  on  this  account,  is  often  confounded  with  v  ; 
in  the  Danish  language  also,  the  letter  b  sounds  more  softly 
like  v,  when  it  is  placed  between  two  vowels.  The  letter  b 
was  hardened  from  v,  after  the  dental  middle  was  destroyed, 
e.  g.  bellum  for  dvellum  (duellum),  bellicus  for  duellicus, 
Bellius  forDuellius,  bis  for  duis,  bonorum  for  duonoro  :  see 
Corssen,  p.  58. 

The  fact  that  the  Latin  letter  b  had  the  usual  sound  of  the 
labial  middle,  that  is,  a  sound  akin  to  the  Greek  it,  is  proved 
by  the  circumstance,  that  the  Romans,  at  the  time  of  Fabri- 
cius  and  Curius  Dentatus,  and  Scipio  Africanus  and  Ennius, 
said  Burrus  instead  of  nv/3/.oj,  and  that  in  the  "  Carmen  Ar- 
vale,"  the  Greek  word  S^appe  is  spelled  triampe,  and  the 
Greek  words  xdpjtaao$,  7tv%o$,  Ttvpyoj,  are  spelled  in  Latin, 
carbasus,  buxus,  Buxentum,  and  burgus ;  moreover,  that  in 
the  Old  Latin  we  find  the  forms  poplico  and  poublicus  used 
simultaneously,  and  in  the  "  Senatusconsult.  de  Bacchan.,"the 
an te« Augustan  form  hapeat,  together  with  habuisse,  scapil- 
lum  with  scabillum,  and  scapres  with  scabres.  In  addition 
to  this  we  have  the  fact,  that  the  letter  b,  before  the  sharp 
sounds  s  and  t,  was  invariably  changed  into  p,  which  fact  was 
ignored  by  Yarro  and  other  grammarians  after  him,  because 
they  thought,  that  they  must  follow  the  etymology,  and,  in 
obedience  to  its  laws,  retain  the  letter  b  before  s  in  some 
cases ;  while  other  grammarians,  unmindful  of  etymology, 
arid  strictly  adhering  to  the  pronunciation,  in  all  cases  wrote 
p  before  s.  Hence  the  difference  of  spelling  in  the  words 
plebs,  urbs,  ccelebs,  trabs,  which  are  also  frequently  written 
pleps,  urps,  cceleps,  traps,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  no  one 
objected  to  the  verbal  forms  scripsi,  nupsi,  lapsus,  scrip- 
turns,  nupturus,  etc.,  and  the  prepositions  ab,  ob  and  sub 
have  obtained  their  original  sound  of  ap,  op,  and  sup,  when 
followed  by  the  letters  t  and  s. 

It  is  nevertheless  true,  that,  at  the  time  of  the  later  empc- 
3* 


28  CONSONANTS. 

rors  (after  the  third  century)  the  sound  of  the  middle  6,  was 
softened  into  that  of  v,  i.  e.  into  one  resembling  the  sound  of 
the  modern  Greek  j3.  f  We,  hence,  find  in  inscriptions,  dating 
from  that  time,  many  words  like  the  following,  cibes  for  cives, 
344,  A.  D.,  fabente  for  favente,  3C7  p.  Chr.,  Balenti  for 
Yalenti,  368  p.  Chr.,  vibi  for  vivi,  386  p.  Chr.,  atabis  for 
atavis,  bixit  instead  of  vixit,  409  p.  Chr.  Maborti  for  Ma- 
vorti,  528  p.  Chr.  ;  see  Corssen  pp.  58-63. 

F. 

The  peculiar  Italic  sound  /,  which  was  expressed  by  the 
Umbrians,  Oscans  and  Etruscans  by  the  letter  8,  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Latin  by  the  Aeolic  Digamma,  but  it  has  nothing 
at  all  to  do  with  the  sound  of  this  letter.  It  is  true  that  we 
find  the  Latin  letter /in  words  of  the  same  root,  where  in  the 
Greek  we  find  ^,  e.  g.  fama  yrw,  fari,  <fdvai,  fui,  <p\>u,  fero, 
^ipw,  fuga,  ^^f rater,  ^pa-rpa ;  but  the  difference  between  the 
two  sounds  must  have  been  very  striking,  since  Cicero  charged 
a  Greek  with  not  being  able  to  pronounce  the  first  letter  of 
the  name  Fundanius,  Quint.  I.  4,  14.  Quintilian,  XII.  10, 
19,  finds  the  Latin  sounds  of /and  v  (u)  rough  and  uncouth, 
when  compared  with  the  Greek  <p  and  v,  and  afterwards  con- 
tinues, "  Nam  et  ilia  quae  est  sexta  nostrarum  paene  non 
humana  voce,  vel  omnino  non  voce  potius  inter  discrimina 
dentium  efflanda  est ;  quae  etiam  cum  vocalem  proxima 
accipit,  quassa  quodammodo,  utique  quoties  aliquam  conso- 
nantem  frangit,  ut  in  hoc  ipso  "frangit"  multo  fit  horri- 
dior.  Priscian  is  more  particular  in  making  the  difference 
between  /  and  ?>,  for  he  says,  "Hoc  tantum  scire  debemus, 
quod  non  fixis  labris  est  pronuntianda  /  quomodo  ph,  atque 
hoc  solum  interest."  Mr.  Corssen  observes,  that,  if  in  pro- 
nouncing the  labial  aspirate  we  do  not  press  the  lower  lip 
firmly  against  the  upper  lip  and  the  upper  teeth,  a  strong, 
thick  breathing  issues  from  the  teeth  and  lips.  That  such  is 
the  position  of  the  organs  of  speech  in  sounding/  is  shown 


LABIALS.  29 

by  Quintilian's  declaration  "inter discrimina dentiumefflanda, 
est,"  and  by  Priscian's  testimony,  "  non  fixis  labris  est  pro- 
nuntianda."  Terentius  Scaurus  says  concerning  h  and  /, 
"  utraque  ut  flatus  est,"  and  on  account  of  this  strong 
breathing  a  part  of  the  grammarians  regarded  the  letter  /  as 
a  semi-vowel,  Corssen,  pp.  63  and  64.  , 

On  page  68,  Mr.  Corssen  continues,  "The  Italic  letter  f 
was  originally  the  aspirated  letter  bh  ;  but  the  breathing  of 
this  aspirated  middle  was  so  marked  in  pronunciation,  that  the 
letter  /  became  very  much  like  the  breathing  sound  h.  Hence, 
also  its  labial  ingredient  was  sometimes  entirely  lost  in  the 
beginning  and  middle  of  words,  and  nothing  remained  but  the 
mere  breathing  sound  h  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  breathing 
sound  of  the  letter/  was  sometimes  lost  in  the  middle  of  Latin 
words,  so  that  the  mere  labial  b  was  left." 

The  reason  why  the  Greeks  in  transferring  Latin  words  into 
their  own  language,  expressed  the  Latin /by  the  Greek  <p,  and 
thus  wrote  <p opr«i/a,  itovtiyixi,  <pt pip* ,  etc. ,  is  this,  that  in  repre- 
senting the  Latin  sound /they  used  that  letter  of  their  own 
alphabet  which  came  nearest  to  it.  But  when  the  Romans, 
after  the  time  of  Cicero,  described  the  Greek  aspirates  in 
Latin,  they  represented  the  Greek  letter  <p  by  the  Latin  ph, 
and  not  by/;  and  not  until  the  time  of  the  later  and  latest 
emperors,  was  the  letter  y  in  Greek  words  and  names  expressed 
by  the  Latin/.  Thus  we  find  in  inscriptions  dating  from 
that  time,  Symferusa,  triumfatoris,  Afrodisia,  Filodespoto, 
Filo.reno,  Neofito,  dendroforo,  sarcofago  and  others. 

On  pages  253  and  254  Mr.  Corssen  traces  an  elective 
affinity  between  the  letters  b,  p,/and  m  and  the  vowel  u,  e.  g. 
glaucuma,  (yxavaewjta,)  optumdj  drachuma,  sacnifico,  inag- 
nuficus,  pontufex,  signuficem,  opufex,  rubeus,  rubustus, 
Hecuba,  etc.  This  elective  affinity,  we  might  add,  is  similar 
to  that  exhibited  in  the  Hebrew  language  in  the  u-sound 
before  the  labials  Bumaph. 


80  CONSONANTS. 

Dentals  or  Linguals. 
T. 

The  dental  smooth  t,  in  the  beginning  and  middle  of  a  word, 
sounded  sharp  and  firm,  as  in  the  other  cognate  Indo-Euro- 
pean languages ;  hence  the  fluctuation  between  t  and  tt  in  its 
spelling,  both  in  the  inscriptions  and  in  the  oldest  manuscripts 
where  we  find  Atilius  and  Attilius,  Metius  and  Mettius,  Bru- 
tius  and  Bruttius,  Statins  and  Stattius,  obliteratum  and  litte- 
ras,  cotidie  and  cottidianus,  Attius  and  Atius,  quatuor  and 
quaituor,  and  many  others,  see  Corssen,  p.  69.  When  fol- 
lowed by  s  it  was  either  assimilated  to  it,  or  else  dropped  as 
in  the  following  words,  quassus  for  quatsus,  fassus  for  fatsus, 
missus  for  mittsus,  misi  for  mittsi,/0ns  for  font-s,  usus  for 
utsus,  fors  for  fort-s,  Fidenas  for  Fidenats,  Quiris  for 
Quirits. 

At  the  end  of  a  word  the  letter  T  was  pronounced  less 
strongly,  and,  therefore,  with  a  number  of  words  it  was  changed 
into  d,  (see  article  d),  with  others,  and  especially  with  verbal 
forms  of  the  third  person  singular  and  plural,  it  was  frequently 
dropped,  as  in  the  Umbrian  and  Yolscian  languages,  so  also 
in  the  Old  Latin,  e.  g.  hau  in  Plautus  for  haut,  hand,  dede, 
(Ital.  diede)  for  dedit,  dedro  (Ital.  diedero)  for  dederunt,  de- 
deri  for  dederit,  censuere  for  censuerit.  In  Christian  inscrip- 
tions we  find  vixse  for  vixit,  fece  (Ital.  fece)  for  fecit, 
quiesce  (Ital.  quiesce)  for  quiescit,  and  in  more  recent 
inscriptions  fecerun  (Ital.  fecero)  for  fecerunt,  (compare  the 
Latin  classic  form  fecere,)  quiescun  (Ital.  quiescono)  for 
quiescunt. 

The  fact  that  the  Latin  syllable  ti,  when  followed  by 
another  vowel,  was  pronounced  like  the  Greek  ti  is  proved,  as 
Mr.  Corssen  justly  observes,  p.  22,  by  the  spelling  of  Maputo*, 

Ovoxoi/rio;,    Hixsvfta.,   <baovsvti,a,    Asxfvr'toj,    Roxovtt,o$,    IIXaxEvrta, 

Ovaxsfrta  and  other  words  by  Greek  authors  as  well  as  in 
inscriptions.     At  an  early  period,  however,  the  letter  seems  to 


DENTALS   AND   LINGUALS.  31 

have  become  a  sibilant  in  this  connection,  as  also  in  the  other 
dialects  of  Italy,  like  the  Greek ;  for  as  early  as  the  second 
century  after  Christ,  we  notice  in  the  inscriptions  and  manu- 
scripts a  fluctuation  between  the  spelling  of  ci  and  ti,  when 
followed  by  another  vowel,  and  as  this  fluctuation  was  owing 
to  the  sibilation  of  ti,  we  hence  conclude  with  Mr.  Corssen, 
that  this  developed  itself  at  an  early  period  of  the  language, 
and  continued  to  increase  in  the  process  of  time.  As  regards 
the  sibilation  of  the  letter  t,  we  repeat  the  statement  we  made 
in  connection  with  that  of  the  letter  c,  viz.,  that  it  is  a  thing 
unheard  of  in  the  Latin  language  for  the  guttural  smooth  c  to 
be  changed  into  the  dental  t,  or  vice  versa,  when  placed  be- 
tween two  vowels,  and  that  the  reason  why  these  two  conso- 
nants which  originally  sounded  quite  differently,  began  to 
sound  alike,  must  be  sought  in  the  combinations  ia,  io,  iu  and 
ie,  when  following  the  consonants  t  and  c.  Thus  we  find  on 
Christian  epitaphs  Constantso  for  Constantio,  Bincentce  in- 
stead of  Vincentiae,  and  in  Italian  documents  of  the  sixth  and 
seventh  centuries  dcoi/a^toce/*  instead  of  donationem,  Sumfc-ovc $ 
instead  of  donationes,  and  axt&o  instead  of  actio.  In  the 
seventh  century,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Isidor,  justitia, 
malitia,  militia,  nequitia  were  pronounced  iustizia  (yustitsia) 
malizia  (malitsia),  milizia  (militsia),  and  rtequizia  (nequitsia), 
and  according  to  Consentius  etiam  was  also  pronounced  eziam 
(etsiam).  That  this  pronunciation  was  general  is  affirmed  by 
the  grammarian  Pompejus  in  "libro  Donati  de  barbar.  et 
metapl."  Lindem.  p.  424,  where  he  says  "  Quotienscunque 
post  ti  vel  di  syllabam  sequitur  vocalis,  illud  ti  vel  di  in 
sibilum  vertendum  est."  This  assibilation,  however,  only 
takes  place  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  and  is  suppressed  when- 
ever the  letter  t  is  preceded  by  s.  As  regards  the  sound  of  t 
before  i  when  followed  by  another  vowel,  which  is  spelled  in 
the  above  instances  ts,  tc,  rj,  J  and  z,  it  must  have  been  a  sort 
of  middle  sound  between  t  and  s,  very  much  like  the  Italian  z 
or  zz.  The  form  Constantso  bears  the  same  relation  to  Con- 
stantio, as  Piacenza  and  Firenza  to  Placentia  and  Florentia. 


32  CONSONANTS. 

In  these  forms  the  letter  t  by  the  influence  of  the  vowel  i  was 
sibilated  into  z,  and  the  vowel  i  after  performing  this  use  was 
dropped,  [not  always,  as  may  appear  from  nunzio,  nuntius.] 
In  Constantsa  the  assibilation  is  represented  by  the  letter  s, 
and  the  vowel  i  is  dropped.  Thus  far  Mr.  Corssen. 

[According  to  our  idea  the  sibilation  is  rather  expressed  by 
ts— z,  and  the  s  in  the  Oscan  form  Bansae  coincides  with  and 
stands  for  Bantsae,  since  the  latter  form  would  not  sound 
otherwise,  than  the  former.  In  Arezzo,  palazzo,  etc.,  for 
Aretio  and  palatio,  we  do  not  regard  the  second  z  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  strengthening  the  first,  but  in  our  eyes  it  is 
the  vowel  i  changed  into  j  (y)  and  itself  turned  into  a  sibilant 
letter,  after  it  has  first  sibilated  the  letter  t,  while  the  first  z 
represents  the  sibilated  letter  t  itself.  The  vowel  i  after  sibi- 
lating the  letter  t  may  also  remain  intact,  as  in  nunzio  above, 
and  also  in  giustizia,  tristizia,  etc.,  which  occur,  at  the  same 
time,  with  giustezza  and  tristezza."] 

We  finally  mention  the  results  of  the  critical  examination 
of  inscriptions  lately  made  by  Mr.  E.  Hiibner  (N.  Jahrb. 
LXXYII.  39,  and  foil.)  as  reported  by  Mr.  Corssen,  page  22. 
Mr.  Hiibner  states  that  the  fluctuation  between  the  spelling  of 
ci  and  ti  is  not  very  frequent,  but  that  the  most  reliable  monu- 
ments from  the  time  of  the  republic  and  the  empire  regularly 
show  only  one  form  of  spelling  for  each  word,  although  at 
times  some  traces  of  a  fluctuation  are  visible.  Amongst  the 
words  of  which  the  spelling  has  been  verified  by  the  inscrip- 
tions, are  contio,  (compare  contione  with  coventionid  in  the 
Sc.  d.  Bacc.),  nuntius  with  its  derivations  (nontius,  nountius 
for  noventius,  as  noundinae  for  novendinae),  indutiae  for 
induitiae,  fetialis,  otium,  negotium,  condicio,  dido,  setius. 

D. 

The  dental  middle  in  the  beginning  and  middle  of  a  word, 
sounded  like  the  English  and  German  letter  d.  At  the  end  of 
words,  according  to  Quintilian,  it  sounded  a  little  harder,  as 


DENTALS   AXD   LINGUAL3.  33 

in  aliud,  id,  illud,  istud,  ad,  apud,  hand  and  sed.  From 
this  statement  of  Quintilian  and  the  recommendation  of  other 
grammarians,  always  to  spell  the  afore-named  neuters  with  the 
final  letter  d,  in  order  to  distinguish  them  from  other  words, 
having  the  same  sound,  while  they  do  not  agree  about  the 
spelling  of  the  remaining  little  words,  Mr.  Corssen  justly  con- 
cludes that  the  Roman  ear  and  the  Roman  tongue  did  not 
distinguish  minutely  between  the  sounds  of  d  and  t.  Thus  we 
find  in  ante-Augustan,  as  well  as  in  later  inscriptions,  and 
also  in  the  best  manuscripts  of  Yirgil,  Plautus  and  Gajus,  both 
at  and  ad,  aliut  and  aliud,  aput  and  apud,  aliquit  and  all- 
quid,  haut  and  hand,  it  and  id,  illut  and  illud,  istut  and 
istud,  atque  and  adque,  quit  and  quid,  quot  and  quod, 
quotannis  and  quodannis,  quitquit  and  quidquid.  Never- 
theless, in  the  beginning  and  middle  of  words  the  letters  d  and 
t  were  well  distinguished  in  the  Latin  language,  during  the 
time  of  its  bloom.  In  the  neuters  the  letter  d  was  originally 
t,  for  in  the  Sanscrit  language  the  letter  £  is  found  in  its  stead, 
so  that,  for  instance,  the  Latin  quod  or  quot  corresponds  to 
the  Sanscrit  kat,  and  the  Latin  preposition  at  or  ad  to  the 
Sanscrit  ati.  An  original  letter  t  is  also  softened  into  d  in 
the  Old  Latin  forms  of  the  ablative,  terminating  in  d,  which 
occur  in  the  oldest  monuments,  e.  g.  Hinnad  (Enna,  Henna), 
praidad  (praeda),  sententiad,  extrad,  suprad,  ead,  Troiad, 
suad,  oquoltod  (occulto),  poplicod,  preivatod  (private), 
meritod,  Gnaivod,  molticatod,  Beneventud,  Ladinod,  quod, 
airid,  coventionid,  senatud,  and  on  the  restored  Colurana 
Rostrata,  we  find,  pugnandod,  altod,  marid,  dictatored, 
navaled.  While  this  letter  d  is  preserved  in  the  Oscan  lan- 
guage, as  in  suvad,  Lat.  sua,  entrad,  intra,  malud,  Lat. 
malo,  moinikad,  Lat.  com-muni,  ligud,  Lat.  lege,  contrud, 
Lat.  contro,  aragetud,  Lat.  argento,  dolud,  Lat.  dolo, 
castrid,  Lat.  castro,  prewatud,  Lat.  privato,  praesentid, 
Lat.  praesente,  in  the  Latin  language  it  disappeared  as  early 
as  the  time  of  the  Punic  war,  and  is  only  preserved,  according 
to  our  idea,  in  ut  and  its  complete  form  quod  for  quot,  in 


34  CONSONANTS. 

which  the  mark  of  the  ablative  case  was  no  longer  discerned. 
The  form  ut,  we  hold,  (at  variance  with  Mr.  Corssen,  who, 
II.  6,  supposes  it  to  be  abridged  from  uti,)  stands  for  cut, 
cuot,  which  is  identical  with  the  quod,  classed  above  by  Mr. 
Corssen  among  the  ablatives,  and  which  also  appears  in  the 
abbreviated  form  quo.  This  quod  is  entirely  independent  of 
another  quod,  which  is  the  neuter  nominative  and  accusative 
of  the  relative  pronoun ;  and  the  reason  why  the  vowel  o  in 
the  former  quod  from  long  was  made  short,  is,  because  it  was 
mistaken  either  for  the  nominative  or  the  accusative  case  of 
the  above  pronoun,  and  also  because  this  was  done  in  other 
ablatives  mentioned  by  Mr.  Corssen,  I.  p.  342,  343.  The 
Latin  ut  or  quod  corresponds  to  the  Greek  w$  and  6*0$  (wj**), 
in  all  its  acceptations ;  ut  and  quo  [«t]  are  used  to  express  how^ 
as,  so  that,  in  order  that,  and  (quo)  quod  to  express  because  ; 
wj  itself  stands  for  wf,  and  corresponds  to  the  Sanscrit  abla- 
tive at,  and  this  t  of  the  Sanscrit  ablative  is  changed  into  s 
in  some  of  its  own  declensions.  The  form  uti  seems  to  con- 
flict with  this  derivation,  but  this  we  trace  back  to  the  Zend 
kufa,  from  which,  according  to  Mr.  Bopp,  page  205,  we 
might  expect  kutlid  in  Sanscrit,  but  we  find  kutham  instead. 

Mr.  Corssen  is  also  right  in  supposing  the  letter  d  to  have 
been  dropped,  at  the  end  of  a  word,  in  the  imperative  mood, 
e.  g.  esto  for  estod,  Osc.  estud,  agito  for  agitod,  Osc.  actud ; 
facito,  Osc.  factud,  liceto,  Osc.  licitud  and  others.  With 
respect  to  the  dropping  of  t  in  the  third  person  of  the  verb, 
which  we  have  noticed  in  our  article  on  t,  Mr.  Corssen  holds, 
that  it  was  first  weakened  into  d,  as  is  also  found  in  the  in- 
scriptions, e.  g.  fetid,  exead,  Osc.  fefacid,  hipid,  pruhipid, 
fuid.  Among  the  three  forms  h-aut,  hau-d  and  hau,  he 
regards  haut  as  the  most  ancient,  although  usage  decided  to 
write  hau  before  dentals  and  labials,  and  haut  before  vowels 
and  gutturals.  The  letter  d  is  assimilated,  in  the  middle  of 
words,  to  the  preceding  letter  n,  e.  g.  grunnio  for  grundio, 
dispennite  for  dispendite,  distennite  for  distendite,  tennitur 
for  tenditur.  Similar  cases  likewise  occur  in  the  Oscan  Ian- 


DENTALS   AND   LINGUALS.  35 

guage,  see  Corssen  I.,  176, 177  ;  [the  same  case  we  also  observe 
in  the  Danish,  among  the  Teutonic  languages,  where  manden 
(the  man)  is  pronounced  mannen,  anden  (the  spirit)  annen; 
compare  also  the  English  thunder  with  the  German  Donner, 
and  the  English  and  German  find  and  finden  with  the  Swedish 


In  the  article  on  t  we  have  seen  that  di  as  well  as  ti  is  as- 
sibilated,  whenever  it  is  followed  by  another  vowel.  The  Latin 
in  this  instance  follows  the  example  of  the  Oscan  language, 
where  we  find  ziculud  in  place  of  the  Latin  dieculo.  The 
sibilation  of  di  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  the  grammarian 
Pompejus,  adduced  above,  who  says  "  Quotiescunque  post 
ti  vel  di  syllabam  sequitur  vocalis,  illud  tivel  di  in  sibilum 
vertendum  est.  Servius,  also,  in  speaking  of  the  pronuncia- 
tion of  di  in  "  Media,"  observes  "  di  sine  sibilo  proferenda 
est:  Graecum  enim  nomen  est  et  Media  provincia  est;" 
from  which  it  is  evident  without  a  shadow  of  doubt,  that  in 
the  later  vulgar  tongue  the  Latin  adjective  media  sounded 
like  mezza,  and  that  the  syllable  di,  consequently,  was  sibi- 
lated. This  also  appears  from  the  spelling  of  the  more  modern 
Latin  in  the  writings  of  the  Scriptores  Historic  Augustas,  as 
Ammianus,  Lactantius,  Orosius  and  Isidorus,  where  Schnei- 
der has  found  the  following  words,  zeta  instead  of  diaeta, 
zaconus  instead  of  diaconus,  zabolus  instead  of  diabolus, 
and  Zanium  instead  of  Dianium.  Compare  the  Greek  fa',  - 
*apfa,  z6wv%o$  instead  of  5ia,  xapSta,  Aiowcros,  which  was  imi- 
tated in  Latin  by  putting  sometimes  di  in  the  place  of  the 
Greek  f,  e.  g.  obridia  for  o,3ptfa,  glycirridia  for  ynuxvftjifa, 
gargaridiare  for  yapyapi^ty,  catomidiare  for  xarw/ufetv,  cfr. 
Medientius  and  Mezentius,  Amadiones  and  Amazones.  The 
fact  that  this  assibilation  was  consummated  at  the  beginning 
of  the  sixth  century,  is  proved  by  the  words  of  the  bishop 
Isidorus,  Origg.  XX.,  9,  p.  627,  (Lind.)  "  Mosizicia  quasi 
modicia,  unde  et  modicum,  z  pro  d,  sicut  solent  Itali  dicer  e 
hozie  pro  hodie."  The  Italian  forms  mezzo,  orzo,  pranzo, 
razzo,  etc.,  hence  arose  from  the  Latin  medium,  hordeum, 
4 


36  CONSONANTS. 

prandium,  radius  by  means  of  the  assibilation  of  the  letter 
d,  which  was  effected  in  the  late  Latin  vulgar  tongue  by  the 
vowel  i  or  e  (afterwards  changed  into  i)  which  had  been 
hardened  into  the  semi-vowel  j  (Engl.  y).  [In  connection 
with  the  assibilation  of  the  letter  d  we  must  moreover  state, 
that  in  the  majority  of  cases  it  only  reached  the  first  s^fiige  of 
sibilation  (z  =  ds,  ts)  like  the  Swedish  dj  in  djup,  djur,  etc., 
(pronounced  dsyup,  dsyur),  and  in  a  few  words  only,  including 
some  that  were  written  with  j  without  d,  worked  its  way  into 
the  second  stage  of  sibilation  (dsh)  e.  g.  diurnum,  Ital. 
giorno  (pronounced  dshorno),  hodie,  Ital.  oggi  (pronounced 
odshi),  zeloso,  Ital.  geloso  (pronounced  dsheloso)  ;  in  some 
words  of  our  own  language,  also,  especially  in  unaccented 
syllables,  we  discover  a  tendency  to  sibilate  the  letter  d  before 
i,  u  (when  for  iu,  yu),  educate,  expedient,  etc. 

LIQUIDS. 
L. 

The  Latin  I  according  to  Pliny  in  Priscian  had  a  triple 
sound,  "  L  triplicem,  ut  Plinio  videtur,  sonum  habet :  exi- 
lem,  quando  geminatur,  secundo  loco  posita  ut  "  ille" 
"  Metellus,"  plenum,  quando  finit  nomina  vel  syllabas,  et 
quando  aliquam  habet  ante  se  eadem  syllaba  consonantem,  ut 
11  sol,  silva,  jftavus,  clarus"  medium  in  aliis  ut  "  lectum, 
lectus."  Its  fullest  sound  it  had  at  the  end  of  a  word,  and 
hence  it  was  never  dropped ;  an  equally  full  sound  it  had  in 
the  middle  of  a  word,  when  preceded  by  a  rnute  as  a  first 
letter,  e.  g.,  in  clarus,  gloria,  plenus,  pluo,  flavus ;  o.n  which 
account  it  also  cast  off  the  letters  c,  t,  [  p  ]  and  st,  when  they 
preceded  it,  e.  g.,  lactis  instead  of  glactis  (yaxaxro^)  latus 
instead  of  tlatus  (tolatus),  [latus,  lateris  from  ^xa^oj]  lamen- 
turn,  derived  from  clamare,  litem  instead  of  stlitem  (Fest.  pp. 
313,  314,)  locum,  stlocum  Quint,  L,  4,  16,  compare  also  the 
Spanish  Have  for  clave,  lleno  for  pleno,  llama  for  flamma, 
llamar  for  clamare,  Hover  for  pluere,  but  in  the  Portuguese 


LIQUIDS  37 

it  frequently  becomes  r,  as  in  prazer  from  placere,  or  else  it 
passes  over  with  the  preceding  consonant  into  ch.  Thus  plenus 
is  changed  into  c/*e[n]o  ;  in  Italian,  however,  it  passes  into  i, 
pieno  plenus,  piano  planus,  chiave,  clavem].  According  to 
Pliny,  the  letter  I  sounded  more  lightly  in  the  beginning,  and 
in  the  middle  of  a  word  between  two  vowels,  as  in  lotus, 
hostilis.  etc.  Mr.  Corssen  holds,  that  the  letter  Z,  in  this 
instance,  was  touched  slightly  with  the  tongue  and  sounded 
like  r,  and  therefore  interchanged  with  it.  Mr.  Pott  shows 
that  the  suffixes — all  and  ari  are  one  and  the  same  thing,  <md 
that  in  order  to  avoid  a  succession  of  two  Z,  or  two  r,  language 
decides  either  for  the  one  or  the  other  ;  compare  australis, 
laralis  with  vallaris  and  proeliaris,  and  ruralis,  littoralis 
with  stellaris  and  saliaris,  etc.  For  the  same  reason 
caeruleus  was  said  instead  of  caeluleus  from  coelum  or 
caelum  (heaven),  and  Parilia  instead  of  Palilia  from  Pales. 

As  the  letter  Z,  in  the  beginning  and  in  the  middle  of  words 
between  two  vowels  was  only  slightly  touched  with  the 
tongue,  it  also  interchanged  in  these  places  with  the  dental 
or  lingual  d,  e.  g.,  lacrima  instead  of  dacrima,  levir  for 
8aFd{s  lautia  for  dautia,  Fest.  p.  68,  olere  and  odort  oSwSa, 
olfacere,  olefacere  and  odefacit,  Fest.  p.  178  ;  impelimenta 
for  impedimenta,  Fest.  p.  108.  See  Corssen,  I.,  81. 

According  to  Pliny,  the  letter  Z  had  its  weakest  sound,  when 
it  was  the  second  consonant  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  and  in 
this  place,  it  was  so  little  distinguished  from  II,  that  they  are 
frequently  confounded  in  inscriptions.  Hence  we  find  Amulius, 
and  Amullius,  Lalius  and  Lallius,  Aurelius  and  Aurellius, 
etc.  Hence,  also,  we  write  both  mille  and  mile,  and  milia, 
and  millia  ;  though  mille  and  milia  are  the  usual  mode  of 
writing.  Mr.  GSJssen  explains  this,  I.,  82,  in  the  following 
manner  :  The  vowel  i,  when  followed  by  another  vowel,  was 
frequently,  as  in  ci  and  ti,  a  semi-vowel  in  its  origin,  and  was 
therefore  pronounced,  in  the  later  vulgar  tongue  like,/,  or  the 
English  y  in  you.  This  semi-vowel  j  or  y  sibilated  the  pre- 
ceding gutturals  and  dentals,  and  affected  the  second  Z  in  the 


SIT?'! 


38  CONSONANTS. 

middle  of  words  in  such  a  manner,  that  it  was  heard  but  very 
little,  and  the  combinations,  llio,  Ilia  and  lio,  lia  could  no 
longer  be  distinguished  accurately,  but  were  both  pronounced 
Ijo,  and  Ija  ;  hence,  they  were  written  sometimes  with  one 
/,  and  sometimes  with  two.  This  is  the  origin  of  the  spell- 
ing mille  and  milia.  This  supposed  original  j,  according 
to  Mr.  Corssen,  was  also  hardened  into  I  and  assimilated 
to  the  preceding  I  in  words  like  the  following,  percello,  per- 
culi  from  perceljo,  pello.pepuli  from  peljo,  <jt  IM.W,  <rr<&o$,  from 
This  fluctuation  between  1  and  11,  is  also  found  in 


otner  words  ;  for  instance,  we  find  vilicus  together  with  villa, 
ilico  instead  of  illico,  etc.  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find 
II,  where  we  might  expect  a  single  I,  e.  g.,  loquella  and 
medela,  querella  and  suadela,  querella,  relligio,  relliquiae 
and  relicuos,  etc.  See  Corssen,  I.,  83. 

"We  finally  state,  that,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  I.,  79, 
the  full  sounding  /  at  the  close  of  a  syllable,  when  followed 
by  another  consonant,  was  preceded  by  a  vowel-like  sound 
very  much  like  u,  so  that  a  mute  u,  that  is,  one  which  is  not 
strong  enough  to  constitute  a  syllable,  was  pronounced  in 
words  where  it  is  not  spelled,  as  in  periclum,  vinclum,  tern- 
plum,  etc.  This  obscure  vowel-like  sound,  in  one  of  the 
daughter-languages  of  the  Latin  so  overbalanced  the  letter  1, 
that  the  latter  coalesced  with  it  :  see  the  French  au,  aux, 
instead  of  al  and  als.  [The  same  feature  is  also  observed  in 
some  other  languages,  as  in  the  Dutch,  where  we  find  hout 
for  holt,  Germ.  Holz,  zoude,  Germ.  soHte,  etc.  In  the 
English  language,  likewise,  we  notice  a  similar  passing  off  of 
the  letter  I  into  u  in  the  pronunciation,  while  it  is  still  retained 
in  the  spelling,  e.  g.  should,  would,  could;  thus  instancing 
the  whole  process  by  which  the  letter  I  becomes  u.~\ 


LIQUIDS.  39 


R 

Among  all  consonants,  Mr.  Corssen  says,  the  liquid  r  is 
nearest  to  the  vowels. 

As  the  Roman  grammarians  do  not  tell  us  whether  the 
Latin  r  was  lingual  (or  dental),  or  guttural,  he  resolves  the 
question,  by  examining  the  changes  to  which  the  letter  is 
subject  in  the  Latin  language  itself. 

An  original  letter  s  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  between  two 
vowels,  is  reduced  to  r,  e.  g.  Lares  instead  of  Lases  (Cam. 
Arv,  Lasibus),  ferias  for  fesias,  also  fesiae,  aras  for  asas, 
also  aasait  harena  for  fasena,  and  arena  for  asena,  Aurelii 
for  Auselii,  Spurius  for  Spusius,  and  Furius  for  Fusius, 
also  eram  instead  of  esam,  and  ero  for  eso,  esit.  In  the 
classic  Latin,  also,  the  letter  s  and  r  are  found  together,  e.  g. 
quaero  and  quaeso,  nares  and  nasus.  In  a  similar  manner  we 
find  gero  from  geso,  gestum,  heri  and  hesternus,  aes  and 
aeris,  cms  and  cruris,  and  speres  Nom.  and  Ace.  Plur.  of 
spes  for  speses.  Moreover,  the  letter  s  in  suffixes  of  all  kinds, 
when  placed  between  two  vowels  is  reduced  to  r,  e.  g.  veteres 
and  vetusti,  Falerii  and  Halesus  and  Faliscus,  Etruria  and 
Etrusci,  liber  um  and  loebesum,  arbor  em  for  arbosem,  robore 
for  robose,  liolera  and  helusa,  funeris  and  funestus,  oneris 
and  onustus,  temporis  and  tempus,  temperi  and  tempestas, 
Veneris  and  Venus,  venustus  and  venustas,  plouruma 
(plurima)  for  plusima',  ploerume  (plurime),  together  with 
plusima,  pleores  (plures)  and  pious  (plus),  majoribus  from 
majosibus,  meliorem  and  meliosem  (Carmen  Saliare).  So 
also  dirimere  for  disimcre,  diribere  for  disibere,  and  the 
Genitive  Plur.  rum  for  sum,  Saner,  sam  (Bopp,  Vgl.  Gram- 
matik,  pag.  285),/a6arwm  for  fabasum,  bonorum  for  bono- 
sum,  and  dierum  for  diesum.  At  the  end  of  words,  also,  the 
letter  s  is  reduced  to  r,  thus  arbor  for  arbns,  labor  for  labos, 
honor  for  honost  and  even  quirquir  for  quisquis,  see  Corssen, 


40  CONSONANTS. 

I.,  87.  The  same  applies  to  the  letter  r  in  the  endings  of  the 
passive  voice. 

As  regards  the  period  when  the  letter  s,  between  two 
vowels,  began  to  turn  into  r,  it  is  indicated  by  Cicero,  where 
lie  says  that  L.  Papirius  Crassus,  who  was  consul  336  before 
Christ,  was  first  called  Papirius  instead  of  Papisius.  'Hence 
this  process  commenced  as  soon  as  the  war  with  the  Samnites. 
The  change  of  s  into  r,  at  the  end  of  words,  is  less  common, 
but  it  is  supposed  that  the  letter  s  in  the  passive  voice  turned 
into  r  at  a  very  early  period,  since  we  do  not  meet  with  it  in 
any  of  the  oldest  monuments ;  and  since  in  the  Old-Umbrian, 
Oscan  and  Sabellian  languages,  also,  we  everywhere  find  the 
letter  r  in  this  connection  ;  compare  the  Umbrian  emantur 
arid  terkantur  with  the  Latin  emantur  and  tergeantur  ;  the 
Oscan  sakarater  with  the  Latin  sacratur  and  sacratort  and 
the  Sabine  ferenter  with  the  Latin  ferentur,  ferantur, 
feruntur,  mdferuntor.  See  Corssen,  I,  88,  89. 

From  these  premises  Mr.  Corssen  concludes,  that,  inas- 
much as  the  sibilant  s,  even  when  pronounced  softly,  is  cer- 
tainly produced  by  holding  the  tongue  against  the  roots  of 
the  upper  front  teeth  and  the  anterior  part  of  the  hard  palate, 
it  is  proved  by  the  transition  of  s  into  r  in  the  Latin  language, 
that  the  letter  r  between  two  vowels  and  at  the  end  of  words 
was  pronounced  with  the  front  part  of  the  tongue,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  the  letter  r,  in  these  places,  was  lingual  or 
dental.  The  same  applies  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  letter 
r  in  the  other  Italic  dialects. 

Another  proof  of  the  lingual  nature  of  the  Latin  r  is  fur- 
nished, according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  by  the  transition  of  the 
letter  d  into  r  in  the  Old-Latin,  particularly  in  compounds 
with  the  preposition  ad. 

Before  v  we  find,  arvenas  for  advenas,  arventores, 
arvocatos,  arvolare  for  advolare,  arvorsum,  arvorsus  for 
advorsum,  arvorsarius  for  adversarius,  arvehant  for  advehant, 
arvectum  for  advectum 


LIQUIDS.  41 

Before  f,  arjines  for  ad  fines,  arfari  for  adfari,  arfuisse 
for  adfuisse,  arferia  for  adferia. 

Before  c  and  g,  arcesso  for  adcesso,  arger  for  adger, 
agger. 

Before  b,  arbiter  from  adbitere,  and  before  a  vowel, 
meridies  for  medidies. 

At  the  end  of  words  we  find  apor  instead  of  apud,  aput,  ar 
instead  of  ad,  at,  See  Prise.  I.,  45. 

The  same  change  of  d  into  r  is  found  in  the  Urabrian ;  for 
in  this  dialect  there  is  a  peculiar  intermediate  sound  between 
r  and  s,  which  is  expressed  in  Roman  characters  by  rs,  but 
by  the  modern  linguists  by  r. 

In  the  middle  of  words  before  v,  we  thus  find  arveitu, 
Lat.  advehito  ; 

before  f,  arfertur,  Lat.  adferre  ; 
before  k,  arkani,  Lat.  actinium; 
before  p.  arputrati,  Lat.  arbitrari,  adbitere, 

Between  two  vowels  in  the  middle  of  a  word,  we  find, 
Akerunie,  Osc.  Akudunniad,  Lat.  Aquilonia,  etc.  ;  at  the 
end  of  a  word,  in  the  preposition  adt  we  find  asam-ar,  Lat. 
ad  aram. 

This  intermediate  sound,  in  some  cases,  becomes  full  r,  for 
instance,  we  find  arveitu  together  with  arveitu,  Lat.  adve- 
hito, and  arfertur  together  with  arfertur,  Lat.  adferre, 
and,  as  Mr.  Corssen  observes,  this  principally  takes  place 
before  a  following  v  or  /,  where  in  the  Latin  language  par- 
ticularly d  changes  into  r. 

In  respect  to  the  above  ar  instead  of  ad,  Priscian  says, 
"  Antiquissimi  pro  '  ad J  frequentissime  '  ar y  ponebant ;" 
he  thus  noticed  the  change  of  d  into  r  in  the  oldest  monu- 
ments which  he  knew.  We  only  find  examples  of  this  kind  in 
the  Senatusconsult.  de  Bacchanal,  and  also  in  Cato's  book  on 
agriculture.  Afterwards  the  letter  d  was  restored  in  most 
cases,  with  the  exception  of  arbiter,  arcesso  and  meridies. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  organs  of  speech,  the 
lingual  or  dental  d  differs  from  the  lingual  r  only  in  this 


42  CONSONANTS, 

respect,  that  in  the  pronunciation  of  d  the  tip  of  the  tongue 
is  pressed  firmly  against  the  upper  front  teeth,  and  the 
anterior  part  of  the  hard  palate,  while,  in  the  pronunciation 
of  r,  it  strikes  loosely  against  them,  so  that  it  is  made  to 
vibrate  by  the  breath  issuing  from  the  wind-pipe.  Hence  the 
lingual  d  differs  from  r  merely  by  the  less  energetic  activity  of 
the  tip  of  the  tongue.  Subsequently,  the  Latin  language  re- 
gained its  strength  in  this  respect.  Mr.  Corssen  holds,  that 
this  transition  of  the  dental  d  into  r,  shows  also,  that  the 
Latin  r  was  lingual,  and  was  pronounced  with  the  tip  of  the 
tongue,  as  has  also  been  inferred  from  the  change  of  s  into  r. 
See  Corssen,  I.,  88-92. 

Mr.  Corssen  finally  shows  with  Mr.  Dietrich  (De  literarum 
in  lingua  Latina  transpositione)  and  Mr.  Ritschl  (Rhein. 
Mas.  YIIL,  150,  IX.,  478,)  in  a  large  number  of  Latin 
words  compared  with  the  Greek,  that  the  Latin  r  does  not 
like  to  be  preceded  by  a  mute,  but,  avoiding  them,  withdraws 
behind  a  vowel,  e.  g.,  cerno,  xpwu.  caro  xp*a$,  cornus, 
scirpus,  ypc^os,  hordeum,  *pt£>},  Cretan  ytopti,  Horn, 
torqueo,  rpertw,  tarpezita,  tpdrtt  £a;  tertius, 


1ST. 

The  liquid  N  had  a  three-fold  sound  ;  1.  a  sharp,  firm, 
dental  or  lingual  sound  in  the  beginning  of  words,  and  in 
the  middle  of  them,  between  two  vowels,  and  also  before  the 
dental  or  lingual  mutes,  with  the  exception  of  the  later  vulgar 
tongue  ;  2.  a  weak  and  obscure  sound,  (like  the  Sanscrit 
anuswara  and  the  provincial  (Suab.)  German  n  in  Gans,  Zins, 
Sens,  etc.,)  in  the  middle  of  words  before  the  letter  s,  and  in 
compounds  also,  before  the  semi-vowels  j,  (Engl.  y  conson.,) 
and  v  and  the  strong  labial  breathing/*,  likewise  after  m,  and 
at  the  end  of  words  where  it  corresponds  to  the  provincial 
(Suab.  Bavar.  Austr.,  etc.,)  German  n,  at  the  end  of  words  ; 
3.  a  guttural  sound  before  the  gutturals  c,  q,  g,  ch,  x.  This 
sound  the  Romans  also  attempted  to  represent  by  g,  nc,  or  c, 


LIQUIDS.  43 

or  else  not  to  express  it  at  all.  It  corresponds  to  the  French 
nasal  n,  and  the  guttural  n  of  the  English  in  thank,  bring, 
sing,  etc. 

We  shall  now  see,  how  Mr.  Corssen  establishes  these 
points  in  detail. 

That  the  letter  n  had  a  sharply  intonated  and  firmly  ex- 
pressed sound  in  the  beginning  of  a  word,  is  proved  by  its  never 
interchanging  there  with  any  other  sound.  It  had  the  same 
strong  sound  in  the  middle  of  words,  where  it  replaced  the 
letter  771  before  the  dentals  d  and  t,  and,  in  general,  wherever 
it  preceded  these  two  letters,  see  Corssen,  I.,  94,  e.  g.  eorun- 
dem,  eandem,  septendecim,  pessundo,  verunlamen,  dun- 
taxat,  septentrio  ;  or,  whenever  in  the  middle  of  words  it 
was  placed  between  two  vowels  ;  hence,  the  frequent  wavering 
in  the  spelling  of  inscriptions  between  a  single  and  a  double 
n,  in  this  connection,  e.  g.,  Caecina  and  Caecinna,  Sabina 
and  Sabinna,  Munius  and  Munnius,  Porsena  and  For  senna. 
In  the  oldest  manuscripts  of  Plautus  we  also  meet  sometimes 
with  a  single  n  where  etymolgy  requires  a  double  one,  as  co- 
nectere,  conexus,  conubium,  pinula,  anulus. 

That  the  letter  n  at  the  close  of  words,  sounded  more 
softly,  is  proved  by  its  frequent  dropping  in  the  nominative 
case  of  Latin  stems  ending  in  or,  as  cardo  for  cardon,  homo 
for  homon,  nemo  for  nemon,  etc.;  likewise  at  the  end  of  the 
forms  ceteroqui  instead  of  ceteroquin,  alioqui  instead  of  alio- 
quin.  It  frequently  disappears,  also,  at  the  close  of  syllables, 
in  the  middle  of  words,  when  they  are  followed  by  the  softest 
and  most  vowel-like  of  sounds,  the  breathing  sound  h,  the 
semi-vowels  j  and  v,  and  the  sibilant  s,  this,  however,  is  only 
the  case  with  the  two  prepositions  con  (instead  of  com  or 
cum)  and  in, 

before  h,  in  cohaerere,  cohere*)-  cohibere,  cohors,  co- 
hortari  ; 

before  j,  in  coicere,  together  with  conicere  and  connicere, 
in  cojunx,  cojugi,  and  cojuci,  together  with  conjunx,  conjugi, 
and  conjuci  in  epitaphs  during  the  time  of  the  empire  (in  a 


44  CONSONANTS. 

similar  manner  we  obtain  from  conjuncti,  through  the  mediate 
form  cojuncti,  after  the  elision  of  j,  council  or  cuncti)  ; 

before  v,  in  coventionid  (Senatusc.  de  Bacc.)  from  which 
we  have  countionid  and  hence  contione. 

The  dropping  of  n,  in  compositions  with  con  and  in,  before 
the  letter  s,  is  a  very  common  feature  in  the  Latin  language, 
not  only  during  the  time  of  the  empire,  but  also  in  the  ante- 
Augustan  age,  e.  g.  cosoleretur  (Senatusc.  de  Bacchan.)  cosol 
(Scipio),  costitutio,  costanti,  (313  p,  Chr.)  In  Plautus 
we  find  isculponeae,  istega  from  insculpo,  instega.  This  elision 
is  especially  frequent  in  the  present  participle,  both  in  manu- 
scripts and  in  inscriptions,  e.  g.  animas  for  animans,  doles 
for  dolens,  dormies  for  dormiens,  in/as  for  infans,  praegnas 
for  praegnans  ;  in  the  suffix  iens,  e.  g  toties  for  totiens,  quin- 
quies  for  quinqmens,  quadragies  for  quadragiens ;  in  the 
suffix  of  the  ordinal  numbers  esimus  instead  of  ensumus,  e.  g. 
vicesimam  for  vicensumam,  duodevicesimum  for  duodevi- 
censumum,  quadragesimum  for  quadragensimum ;  likewise 
in  the  suffix,  iensi,  ensi  in  the  proper-nouns  of  inhabitants, 
e.  g.  Alliesis  for  Alliensis,  Pisaurese  for  Pisaurense.  The 
Latin  suffix  oso  had  an  older  form  onso,  thus  formosus  is 
written  instead  of  formonsus,  grammosis  for  grammonsis ; 
onso  is  in  the  place  of  onto,  Gr.  ««/*  Sanscr.  vant.  The 
letter  n  is  also  dropped  before  s  in  the  stems  of  words,  thus 
cesor  for  censor,  meses  and  mesibus  for  menses  and  mensi- 
bus,  mesura  for  mensura,  mostrum  for  monstrum,  prasus 
for  pransus,  etc.  In  other  passages,  again,  the  letter  n,  in- 
stead of  being  dropped  entirely,  is  assimilated  to  s ;  thus  we 
find  messor  for  mensor,  formossa  for  formonsa,  infessus  for 
infensus.  Since  the  combinations  ens  and  es  were  not  clearly 
distinguished,  we  need  not  wonder  at  the  Romans  writing' 
[erroneously]  sometimes  thensaurus  for  ^cravpos,  Onensimus, 
etc.,  see  Corssen,  I.,  100.  The  letter  n  was  dropped  more 
rarely  before  t,  and  very  rarely  before  d,  e.  g.  regnate,  con- 
stati,  testameto,  faciedos,  Kax^gaj,  Corssen,  I.,  100.  101. 

It  is   established  by  the   unequivocal   testimony   of   the 


LIQUIDS.  45 

ancients,  by  the  orthography  of  Latin  words  in  Greek,  and 
the  marking  of  the  apex,  that  all  vowels  were  pronounced 
long  before  ns  and  nf,  thus  before  n  when  followed  by  the 
sibilant  or  the  strong  labial  breathing.  Cicero  has  said  this 
expressly  with  regard  to  con  and  in  (Orat.  c.  48,)  utlndoc- 
tus1  dicimus  brevi  prima  littera,  'insanus'  producta, 
'  inhumanus'  breviy'infelix'  longa^et  ne  multis .  quibus  in 
verbis  eae  prime?  litter ae ,  quae  in  '  sapiente'  et  lfelice\ 
producte  dicitur  'in,Jin  ceteris  omnibus  breviter.  Item- 
que  '  conposuit,  concrepuit,  c&nsue-vit."*  As  by  the  words 
confecit,  infelix,  consuetus,  constituit,  msanus,  etc.,  in 
Cicero,  it  is  also  proved  by  the  spelling  of  Latin  words  with 
Greek  characters,  that  the  vowel  is  long  before  ns,  e.  g. 
K<I>vtfo$,  Kwvflffai'rtj/oj,  see  Corssen,  L,  101  ;  also  by  the  placing 
the  apex  over  the  vowel,  e  g.  in  cdnsecrat,  consult,  etc.,  see 
Corssen,  I.,  101.  102.  The  vowel  e  was  long  before  ns  in 
the  participle,  as  is  shown  by  ytotyvs,  Plut.  Num.  9  ;  aujt^vf, 
Plut.  Tib.  Gracch.  8 ;  and  also  by  the  position  of  the  apex 
in  diffidens,  dejiciens,  veniens,  moreover  it  was  long  in  other 
nominatives  ending  in  ns,  as  dens,  also  in  fons,  etc.  The 
remark  of  Valerius  Probus,  "  nam  correpta  ante  ns  nullum 
nomen  reperitur"  applies  also  to  the  adverbs  of  number 
Miens,  sexicns,  etc.,  and  to  the  proper  names  of  inhabitants 
and  nations  ending  in  iensi,  and  ensi,  which  are  always 
spelled  yvai,,  both  in  manuscripts  and  inscriptions,  e.  g. 
Iltx^crt-ofc,  'Axovr^biot,  etc.  ;  compare  also  aft'^voot)?,  as  well  as  in 
Gellius,  pensus,  and  pensito,  but  pmdeo,  p.  103.  Further, 
when  a  syllable  ending  in  m  receives  the  stress,  the  letter  n 
beginning  the  following  syllable  is  pronounced  very  weakly, 
e.  g  amnis,  condemno,  omnis,  autumnus,  solemnis,  scam- 
num,  Corssen,  I.,  103,  [compare  also  the  English  condemn, 
solemn,  autumn,  but  the  reverse  in  French,  in  which  the  m 
is  dropped.] 

The  letter  n  becomes  guttural,  whenever  it  is  followed  by  a 

*  Cfr.  Gell.  II.,  17  ;  IV.,  17.    .Max.  Victorin,  p.  1954.    Diomed.  p. 
428.     Serg.  p.  1855. 


46  CONSONANTS. 

guttural,  as  in  Greek  and  German,  and  is  almost  pronounced 
like  the  nasal  n  of  the  French.  In  this  respect  Priscian  says, 
"  Sequente  g  vel  c  pro  ea  (n)  g  scribunt  Graeci  et  quidam 
tamen  vetustissimi  auctores  Eomanorum  euphoniae  causa 
bene  hoc  facientes,  ut  'Agchises,  agceps,  aggulus,  aggens,' 
quod  ostendit  Varro,  in  primo  de  origine  linguae  Latinae 
his  verbis  :  ut  Ion  scribit,  quinta  et  vicesima  est  liter  a,  quam 
vocant  agma,  cujus  forma  nulla  est,  et  vox  communis  est 
Graecis  et  Latinis,  ut  his  verbis  'aggulus,  aggens,  agguilla, 
iggerunt.'  In  ejusmodi  Graeci  et  Accius  noster  bina  g 
scribunt,  alii  n  et  g,  quod  in  hoc  veritatem  videre  facile  non 
est,  similiter  'agceps,  agchora.'"  The  second  important 
passage  in  reference  to  this  point,  Mr.  Corssen  observes, 
Gellius  has  extracted  entire  from  the  work  of  Nigidius  Figu- 
lus,  "  Inter  literam  n  et  g  est  alia  vis,  ut  in  nomine  '  anguis' 
et  '  angari'  et  'increpat'  et  'incurrit'  et  '  ingenuus.'  In 
omnibus  his  non  verum  n,  sed  adulterinum  positum.  Nam 
n  non  esse  lingua  indicio  est  ;  nam  si  ea  liter  a  esset,  lingua 
palatum  tangeret."  As  regards  the  sounds  of  this  'n  adul» 
terinumj  Mar.  Victor,  says,  "won  inter  m  et  n  medium 
sonat  '  unquam1  et  '  nonnunquam'  et  similia,  sed  inter  n  et 
g.11  This  sound  of  n  was  represented  by  Accius  by  the  letter 
g,  but  his  annotation  has  never  been  generally  adopted,  as 
little  as  the  doubling  of  the  vowels,  to  express,  that  they  are 
long.  Marius  Yictorinus  defines  this  sound  as  an  interme- 
diate one  between  n  and  g,  just  as  we  represent  the  French 
nasal  n  by  rig  for  beginners. 

In  inscriptions  of  the  latest  times  we  find  the  words  pricipi, 
coque  [rendos],  where  the  non-expression  of  the  guttural 
nasal  sound  indicates,  that  the  ear  no  longer  recognized  in  it 
the  proper  sound  of  the  letter  n.  The  same  sound  before  g 
and  x  (c  s),  is  found  expressed  by  nc  in  inscriptions  dating 
from  the  time  of  the  empire,  e.  g.  conjunct,  juncxit,  extincxit, 
nuncquam ;  and  in  a  still  later  inscription  by  the  letter  c 
alone,  in  nucquam. 

Finally,  as  the  nasal  guttural  n  before  c,  g  and  q,  had  been 


LIQUIDS.  47 

perfectly  developed  in  the  Latin  language,  at  an  early  period, 
as  well  as  Aecius'  mode  of  spelling  it,  Mr.  Corssen  explains 
by  this,  ecce  for  en-ce,  ec-quis  for  en-quis,  ec-quando  for 
en-quandot  as  we  find  nucquam  for  nunquam. 

M. 

The  fact  that  the  labial  M  in  different  parts  of  the  word  was 
pronounced  differently,  is  told  us  by  Priscian  in  the  following 
words  :  "  M  obscurum  in  extremitate  dictionum  sonat  ut 
"  templum,"  apertum  in  principio  ut  "  magnus,"  mediocre 
in  mediis  ut  "umbra."  Hence,  in  the  beginning  of  words  the 
letter  m  had  the  same  strong  and  decided  sound,  with  which 
the  labial  liquid  is  pronounced  in  all  cognate  languages.  The 
reason  why  it  sounded  weaker  in  the  middle  of  words  before 
labials,  is  because  the  following  stronger  sound,  pronounced 
in  the  same  part  of  the  mouth,  predominated  over  the  weaker 
liquid.  The  letter  m  was  moreover  weakened  in  the  middle  of 
words,  when  it  was  changed  into  a  guttural  n,  before  the  gut- 
tural c,  g,  q,  and  into  a  lingual  or  dental  n  before  the  dentals  d 
and  t ;  further,  when  it  turned  into  the  obscure  semi-vowel  sound 
of  n  before  s,  f,  j,  and,  finally,  when  it  was  lost  entirely  before 
vowels  in  the  words  cum  or  com  and  circum.  Examples  of 
this  weakening  process  we  find  in  the  following  words,  anceps, 
for  amceps,  ambceps,  ambiceps,  anquiro  for  ambiquirot 
conger -o,  tantundem,  veruntamen,  consul  and  cosol,  confisus, 
conjux  and  cojux  ;  coventionid  and  conventione,  circuagot 
circuire,  coagulum,  coactus,  coaptare,  coimeret  coemptio, 
cooptare,  etc.,  see  Corssen,  I.,  lOt.  The  only  words  where 
the  letter  m  remained,  are  comes,  comitium,  and  comitari. 

According  to  the  testimonies  of  Cicero  and  Quintiliau, 
the  letter  m  in  cum  (com)  was  also  weakened  into  n  at  the 
end  of  words,  in  the  connection  of  speech,  as  in  cun  nobis. 
According  to  Yelius  Longinus  also  in  etian  nunc  instead  of 
etiam  nunc;  still  others  say  that  Cato  wrote  an  terminum 
instead  of  ambi  (a^i)  terminum  (compare  anceps  for  ambi-. 
5 


48 


CONSONANTS. 


ceps).  In  inscriptions,  also,  we  find  per  decen  dies,  tan 
Concorde,  which  tan  was  afterwards  adopted  in  the  Spanish 
language ;  and  in  inscriptions  of  the  latest  times,  con  quo, 
con  qua,  con  que,  con  quern,  con  cojugi. 

Sometimes  Mr.  Corssen,  on  the  strength  of  the  material 
immediately  before  him,  raises  theories  which  he  finds  it 
afterwards  necessary  to  modify.  For  instance,  he  notices  that 
Cato  and  other  early  writers  (according  to  Yerrius  Flaccus,) 
use  in  the  subjunctive  mood  attinge[m]  forattingam,  diceim'] 
for  dicam,  ostende\_m~\  for  ostendam,  recipie\_m~\  for  recipiam, 
and  on  the  strength  of  this  he  asserts  that  we  have  certain  proofs, 
that  in  the  Old-Latin  the  dropping  of  the  sign  of  the  person 
affected  also  the  first  person  singular,  while  this  evidence  only 
proves  that  the  letter  ra  was  dropped  in  spelling,  but  not 
necessarily  in  pronunciation  ;  while  he  says  in  another  place, 
the  letter  m  may  have  been  pronounced  imperfectly,  arid 
hence  deemed  unnecessary  to  be  expressed  in  writing.  As 
regards  the  letter  e  of  the  subjunctive  mood,  in  the  above 
words,  we  do  not  regard  it  as  being  weakened  from  a,  since 
such  a  thing  is  nowhere  found,  either  in  the  Italian,  Spanish 
or  Portuguese  languages,  but  we  think  it  identical  with  the 
older  so-called  future  form  dicem,  faciem.  With  respect  to 
the  theory  of  Mr.  Bopp,  concerning  the  original  formation  of 
the  verbs,  which  is  assumed  as  correct  by  Mr.  Corssen 
(I.  109),  we  do  not  agree  with  him,  but  we  hope  to  prove  on 
some  future  occasion,  that  this  theory,  embraced  by  him  in 
opposition  to  the  Indian  grammarians,  who  must  be  con- 
sidered as  having  been  more  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
original  state  of  the  stem-language  of  the  Indo-European 
race,  is  not  true,  viz.  that  the  letter  a  of  the  first  person,  arid 
the  corresponding  letter  o  in  the  Greek,  Latin  and  Old- 
Slavonic  languages,  are  no  part  of  the  pronoun,  but  mere 
copulative  vowels.  Thus  much,  we  think,  is  already  proved, 
that  the  termination  pi  of  the  first  person  is  a  mere  secondary 
and  sectional  formation  among  the  Indo-European  languages, 
for  it  only  occurs  in  the  Sanscrit  and  Zend,  and  in  a  limited 


LIQUIDS.  49 

number  of  verbs  in  the  Greek  and  Slavonic,  while  no  trace 
of  it  is  discovered  in  the  Latin  and  German ;  also  that  it  is  a 
later  formation,  because  it  is  only  found  in  the  present  tense, 
and  the  present  tense  is  by  no  means  the  first  tense  which 
originated  in  language. 

In  the  inscriptions  dating  from  the  time  of  the  Punic  war 
Mr.  Corssen  still  observes  the  same  wavering  between  the 
retaining  and  dropping  of  m  at  the  end  of  words  ;  but  from 
the  time  of  the  "  Senatusconsult.  de  Bacchanal.,"  he  finds  it 
generally  written  and  dropped  only  in  a  few  cases,  whence  he 
concludes  rightly,  that  from  the  time  of  the  Macedonian  and 
Syrian  wars,  and  therefore  from  the  time  when  the  Romans 
had  frequent  intercourse  with  the  Greeks,  the  pronunciation 
of  the  letter  m  became  more  marked ;  and  to  this  we  would 
add,  that  in  the  same  degree  in  which  the  nation  became  more 
refined,  and  this  refinement  penetrated  to  the  lower  strata  of 
the  nation,  all  the  forms  of  the  language  became  more  clearly 
defined,  for  language  is  the  truest  index  of  a  nation's  culture. 
But,  in  the  third  century  after  Christ,  when  the  active  politi- 
cal life  of  the  Romans  ceased,  and  in  consequence  of  some 
radical  changes  in  the  Christian  Church,  which  had  become 
universally  prevalent  at  that  time,  the  whole  Roman  empire, 
both  mentally  and  morally  declined,  this  process  was  also 
reflected  in  the  language  of  the  people,  and  manifested  itself 
first  of  all  in  the  dropping  of  the  letter  m  in  the  accusative 
case,  which  is  proved  by  Mr.  Corssen,  L,  112,  by  a  multitude 
of  examples.  From  that  time  the  letter  m  began  also  to  dis- 
appear at  the  close  of  other  words,  and,  we  may  add,  to  be 
more  slighted  in  pronunciation,  e.  g.  mecu  was  written  for 
mecum,  septe  for  septem,  dece  for  decem,  ante  for  autem, 
nunqua  for  nunquam,  pride  for  pridem,  ide  for  idem,  passi 
for  passim,  oli  for  olim.  How  much  of  it  still  sounded  in 
the  popular  mouth,  we  are  unable  to  say,  but  from  the  mere 
fact  of  a  grammarian  of  the  fourth  century  opposing  the  use 
of  the  accusative  and  other  forms  without  m,  and  condemning 
it  as  faulty,  we  are  not  prepared,  with  Mr.  Corssen,  to  assert 


50  CONSONANTS. 

that  it  ceased  altogether  to  be  heard.  And  as  regards  his 
remarks  (I.,  113,)  that  the  fact  of  the  stone-cutters  no 
longer  knowing  whether  the  letter  m,  which  they  found  in  the 
older  inscriptions,  belonged  to  the  accusative  or  ablative  case, 
and,  because  that  letter  was  void  of  sound  and  meaning  to 
them,  the  fact  of  their  using  it  indiscriminately  for  both  cases 
(in  proof  of  which  Mr.  C.  adduces  twenty  accusatives),  is  a 
sure  sign  of  the  letter  m  being  no  longer  heard  after  the  close 
of  the  third  century,  it  is  our  opinion  that  Mr.  Corssen  does 
the  poor  stone-cutters  manifest  injustice,  for  he  has  not  only, 
thus  far,  regarded  them  as  trustworthy  authorities,  but  seems 
also  to  have  forgotten  that  they  generally  only  furnished  the 
hands,  while  wiser  heads  furnished  the  words.  We  are  rather 
inclined  to  believe  that  the  stone-cutters  were  perfectly  right 
in  giving  this  preference  to  the  accusative,  for  it  had  gradually 
become  the  general  case  for  all  the  oblique  forms,  and,  finally, 
after  the  nominative  had  lost  its  own  s  it  was  even  used  for 
this  case,  see  Diez,  "  Grammatik  der  romanischen  Sprachen," 
II.,  12,  where,  among  other  examples  from  the  collections  of 
Gruter  and  Orelli,  he  mentions  the  following :  a  latus, 
ab  aedem,  ab  Isem,  cum  quern,  cum  conjugem  suam,  pieta- 
tem  causa,  pro  salutem,  furcepem  for  forceps,  in  curiam, 
for  in  curia,  quern  instead  of  cui,  in  sinu  mare  (for  mares 
and  this  for  maris).  In  the  Latin  translation  of  Dositheus 
we  find  in  urbanam  milita,  in  libertatem  morari,  etc.  The 
same  thing  is  shown  in  the  daughter-languages  of  the  Latin, 
and  even  in  the  modern  Greek.  In  the  Provenzale  language 
we  find  los  paires,  las  maires,  in  Spanish,  los  padres,  las 
madres,  where  the  accusative  form  of  the  article  los  and  las 
is  used  both  for  the  nominative  and  the  accusative  case,  and 
when  preceded  by  a  preposition  for  all  other  cases ;  in  mo- 
dern Greek  we  find  *?  &*&*,  the  hope,  o  Ttat Ipaj,  the  father 
(compare  also  Corssen,  L,  270). 


SIBILANTS.  61 

Sibilants. 
S. 

The  Latin  Alphabet  received  its  letter  s  from  the  Doric  ,.* 
alphabet  of  Cumae.  It  was  pronounced  sharp  in  the  beginning 
of  words,  and  in  the  middle  of  words  when  preceded  or 
followed  by  another  consonant,  with  the  exception  of  n,  as  it 
is  still  pronounced  in  the  Romance  languages.  It  had  a  soft 
sound  in  the  middle  of  words  between  two  vowels  (as  is 
still  the  case  in  the  same  idioms)  and  when  followed  by  the 
weak  n ;  and  an  obscure  and  indistinct  sound  at  the  end  of 
words  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  where  it  gradually  disappeared, 
and  whence,  on  this  account,  it  was  not  transmitted  into  the 
Romance  languages.  Mr.  Gorssen  says,  that  it  had  this  last 
sound,  at  the  end  of  words,  in  the  first  and  last  periods  of  the 
vulgar  tongue ;  but  as  long  as  we  have  no  precise  historical 
date  concerning  this  point,  we  doubt  very  much  whether  this 
peculiar  sound  was  ever  completely  lost  in  the  vulgar  tongue, 
if,  as  the  history  of -language  teaches  us,  the  educated  portion 
of  the  Romans  pronounced  it,  during  the  time  of  their  bloom, 
and  even  at  a  later  period. 

The  letter  s  was  pronounced  sharp  in  the  middle  of  a  word, 
when  it  was  preceded  or  followed  by  another  consonant,  be- 
cause the  middle  is  changed  into  the  smooth  before  s  as  in 
nubo,  nupsi,  labor,  lapsus,  and  the  letter  s  is  only  preserved 
in  the  word  before  sharp  sounds,  while  it  is  thrown  out  before  /, 
m,  n,  and  also  d,  e.  g.  ca(s)-mena,  po(s)-no,  corpu(s)-lentus, 
m(s)-dex,  di(s)-duco,  tri(s)-remis,  tre(s)-decim,  etc.,  or  else 
is  changed  into  r,  e.  g.,  carmen,  ornare  for  osnare,  diurnus 
for  diusnus,  hodiernus  for  hodiesnus.  The  letter  s,  on  ac- 
count of  its  sharp  sound,  agreed  as  little  with  these  sounds, 
as  in  the  beginning  of  words  it  did  with  a  following/,  e.  g." 
fallo  for  cj^axxw,  fungus  .for  0?>oyyo$,  funda  for  ays  V&QVH,  fidis 
(chord)  for  aytfy. 
5* 


52  CONSONANTS. 

As  the  letter  s  sounded  softly  between  two  vowels,  it  easily 
passed  over  in  this  case  into  r,  e.  g.  asa  into  ara,  speres  for 
spescs,  or  else  it  was  dropped,  e.  g.  Titles  for  Titieses, 
JRamnes  for  Ramneses,  etc.  Whenever  Mr.  Corssen,  in  the 
middle  of  a  word,  between  two  vowels,  finds  a  double  s  after 
a  long  vowel  or  a  diphthong,  he  very  justly  separates  those 
cases  where  the  double  s  remains  in  the  daughter-languages  of 
the  Latin  from  those  where  they  are  reduced  there  into  a 
simple  s  and  thus  proves  that  they  were  originally  pronounced 
softly.  According  to  Quintilian,  at  the  time  of  Cicero  and 
even  later,  they  spelled  a  double  s  even  after  a  long  vowel, 
for  the  sake  of  etymology,  e.  g.  caussa  for  cautsa  from 
cautia,  cassus  for  cadsus,  divissiones  for  dividsiones. 
Marius  Yictorinus  moreover  mentions  aussus  for  audsus, 
fussus  for  fudsus,  odiossus  for  odionsus,  ussus  for  utsus, 
russum  for  rursum.  Since  the  time  of  Quintilian  these 
words  were  spelled  with  a  single  s. 

Since  the  letter  s  at  the  end  of  words,  from  the  oldest  times, 
was  pronounced  weakly,  and  hence,  was  frequently  not  ex- 
pressed in  writing,  Mr.  Corssen,  assumes  with  Mr.  Bopp 
that  an  original  letter  s  was  dropped  in  words  like  Numa, 
poeta,  puer,  vigil.  It  is  a  mooted  point,  however,  whether 
words  like  poeta,  l^Ttota,  etc.,  are  not  original  stems,  in  which 
the  ending  a  is  a  sort  of  article  On  the  other  hand,  although 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  ending  er  of  the  o-declension  (II. 
declension)  is  shortened  from  rus,  it  nevertheless  appears  as 
if  the  final  r  in  puer  was  formed  of  s,  and  as  if  the  vowel  i  on 
account  of  the  following  r  was  changed  into  e,  so  as  to  seem 
like  to  the  Doric  rfotp,  for  7tai$.  The  letter  s  was  also 
dropped,  at  an  early  period,  in  the  second  person  singular  of 
the  present  and  imperfect  tense  of  deponent  and  passive  verbs, 
e.  g.  loquere  for  loqueris,  loquere,  loquebare,  loquerere. 
When  the  Romans  by  the  wars  which  they  carried  on  in  the 
east,  came  into  closer  contact  with  the  Greeks,  that  part  of 
the  nation  who  were  nearest  to  them  and  were  more  imme- 
diately influenced  by  them  began  to  pay  more  attention  to  the 


SIBILANTS.  53 

forms  of  their  language  and  to  pronounce  the  letter  s  of  the 
nominative  case  more  strongly,  but  this  innovation  never  , 
penetrated  deeply  among  the  population  inhabiting  the 
country.  As  regards  the  dropping  of  it  in  the  genitive  of 
the  A-and  0-(first  and  second)  declensions,  we  agree  with 
Mr  Oorssen,  but  remark  at  the  same  time  that  this  theory  is 
not  yet  generally  adopted,  for  Mr.  Bopp  even  in  the  new 
edition  of  his  comparative  grammar,  pages  184,  200,  still  gives 
the  preference  to  the  old  idea  of  the  locative  taking  the  place 
of  the  genitive. 

Mr.  Corssen,  I.,  119,  concludes  trom  the  old  form  pro- 
spices  th&t  the  imperative  mood  originally  ended  in  s,  because 
it  was  formed  of  the  present  tense — both  of  these  points  we 
deny  positively.  We  do  not  pretend  to  pass  any  judgment  in 
matters  connected  with  the  first  formations  of  the  languages 
of  the  primeval  people,  because  many  centuries  must  have 
elapsed,  during  which  these  languages  were  continually 
forming,  before  any  of  their  written  documents  could  appear 
in  the  light  of  history,  but  there  are,  nevertheless,  certain 
points  which,  we  think,  no  unbiased  mind  will  deny.  As  far 
as  we  can  see,  language  like  everything  else,  in  the  beginning 
was  simple,  and  as  it  unfolded  itself,  in  the  course  of  time,  ^. 
became  more  perfect  and  as  it  were  articulated.  This  point 
we  ought  to  hold  fast  and  not  to  yield  up  to  any  authority, 
howsoever  weighty.  If  Mr.  Ewald  tells  us  that  the  imperative 
mood  in  the  Semitic  languages  is  formed  of  the  future  tense, 
and  Mr.  Bopp,  that  in  the  Indo-European  languages  it 
originates  in  the  present  tense,  by  dropping  in  the  active 
voice  the  personal  ending,  we  think  we  are  fully  justified  in 
asking  them  :  Gentlemen,  who  has  told  you  so  ?  Do  not 
the  first  monuments  of  language  rather  teach  us  otherwise  ? 
The  first  form  of  the  verb  was  undoubtedly  the  aorist,  present- 
ing to  the  mind  the  idea  of  some  fact  or  some  act  completed. 
The  second  form  of  the  verb,  required  by  language,  was  that 
which  demanded  the  doing  or  repeating  of  such  an  act  or  fact. 
As  this  form,  in  the  first  place,  referred  to  single,  concrete 


54:  CONSONANTS. 

cases,  it  had  necessarily  to  be  short,  and  as  the  person  was 
present,  it  did  not  need  any  mark  for  the  person ;  hence  the 
imperative  mood  of  the  Semitic  languages,  of  the  Chaldee, 
Syriac,  Arabic  and  Hebrew  is  the  shortest  form  of  the  verb, 
and  in  the  second  person  which  we  consider  the  primitive 
formation  is  found  without  any  mark  of  the  person ;  the  same 
is  the  case  with  the  German,  Persian,  Old-Slavonic  and  Latin, 
and  the  greater  part  of  the  Greek,  Sanscrit  and  Zend,  so  that 
the  endings  s,  ^  and  di  wherever  they  may  be  found,  must  be 
regarded  as  later  additions,  and  mere  sectional  formations. 
Mr.  Bopp  says,  §  718  of  his  Comparative  Grammar,  that  the 
second  person  singular  of  the  Imperative  mood  in  the  first  gene- 
ral conjugation  of  the  Sancrit  language  (which  corresponds  to 
the  Greek  conjugation  in  w,  to  the  four  Latin,  and  the  strong 
conjugation  in  the  Germanic  tongues),  differs  from  the  second 
general  conjugation  (which  corresponds  to  the  Greek  in  /tt}, 
by  losing  the  sign  of  the  person  in  the  active  voice,  so  that, 
for  instance,  the  verb  bara,  to  bear  (Zend  bara)  closes  with 
the  characteristic  letter  of  the  class  to  which  it  belongs,  viz., 
a.  He  furthermore  says,  that  this  loss  of  the  sign  of  the  person 
seems  to  date  to  the  remotest  antiquity,  inasmuch  as  in  Greek, 
too,  we  find  <fips  instead  of  ^'p?X  and  in  the  Latin  language 
leg-e,  am-d,  mon-e  and  aud-i,  in  all  of  which  cases  the  sign 
of  the  person  has  been  dropped.  Of  the  Germanic  strong 
verbs,  he  says,  (§  719),  that  in  the  second  person  singular  of 
the  imperative  mood  they  dropped  the  characteristic  class- 
vowel,  without  being  reduced,  however,  to  the  mere  root  of 
the  verb.  We  consider  ourselves  fully  justified  in  asking,  how 
does  Mr.  Bopp  know,  that  these  forms  ever  possessed  the 
personal  endings,  and  afterwards  dropped  them  ?  Does  it 
not  seem  natural,  that  these  short  forms  should  have  existed 
originally,  and  that  the  endings  were  added  afterwards  ? 
Who  has  informed  Mr.  Ewald  that  the  Hebrew  imperative  has 
been  formed  from  the  future  ?  Does  it  not  seem  more  natural 
that  the  future  is  a  more  complete  form  of  the  imperative 
mood,  inasmuch  as  the  jussive  signification  of  the  future, 


SIBILANTS.  55 

which  is  the  shortest  form,  (and  corresponds  to  the  impera- 
tive mood,)  is  found  in  all  Semitic  languages,  and  from  this 
shortest  form  are  generated  all  modifications  of  the  subjunc- 
tive mood.  The  imperfect  or  future  tense  of  the  Semitic 
idioms,  however,  is  as  far  from  being  a  primitive  formation, 
as  the  present  tenses  of  the  Indo-European  languages,  since 
they  do  not  express  any  act  or  fact  completed,  but  only  as 
being  done  ;  these  last,  moreover,  present  manifest  traces  of 
external  accretions,  as  [yt]yvft>[0x]w,  Aa[/t]j3[ai/]w,  co-gno\_sc~\o, 
fi[n^9°}  ru[m}pot  clar\_esc~\o.  From  what  we  have  advanced 
above,  it  certainly  appears,  that  without  even  relying  upon  the 
logical  improbability  of  a  primary  formation  of  the  present 
tense,  we  are  not  authorized  to  maintain  that  the  imperative 
mood  has  been  formed  by  dropping  the  personal  ending  of  the 
present  tense,  inasmuch  as  in  the  majority  of  the  original  for- 
mations of  the  stem-languages  of  the  Indo-European  race  the 
personal  suffixes  are  almost  entirely  wanting  in  this  mood ; 
although  we  are  perfectly  willing  to  admit  that  after  the 
present  tense  had  once  been  formed,  a  later  form  of  the 
imperative  mood  in  later  ages,  was  really  obtained  from  it, 
as  in  the  French,  where  together  with  the  original  form  parle, 
va,  etc.,  in  the  imperative  mood,  we  find  likewise  paries-en, 
parles-y,  vas-en,  vas-y ;  which  forms  are  obtained  from  tu 
paries  and  tu  vas.  The  letter  s  in  these  forms  is  usually 
regarded  by  the  grammarians  as  an  addition  for  the  sake  of 
euphony,  but  we  do  not  think  so,  since  the  letter  in  the  above 
cases  is  embodied  in  the  verb  itself,  and  not  separated  from  it 
by  a  trait  -d'union  as  in  parle-t-il ;  however,  the  very  letter  t 
in  this  last  form  was  originally  a  part  of  the  termination  of 
the  verb.  As  regards  the  word  prospices  itself,  which  caused 
this  digression,  it  does  not  at  all  follow  that  it  is  found  in  the 
imperative  mood,  for  it  may  just  as  well  be  the  second  person 
singular  of  the  future  tense,  used  as  an  imperative,  without 
the  suffix  i;  and  MR.  CORSSEN,  himself,  (II.,  147,)  shows  that 
this  suffix  i  has  been  omitted  in  other  instances,  viz.,  conven- 
at  for  conveniat,  even-at  for  eveniat,  pervenam  for  perveni- 


56  CONSONANTS. 

am,  and  perven-at  for  'perveniat.  Thus  even  in  the  first 
conjugation  we  find  lav  ere  for  lav-\_a~]-ere,  and  more  so  in 
the  second  as  terg-o,  terg-e-o. 

In  monuments,  from  the  oldest  times  to  those  of  Cicero 
and  Catullus,  we  meet  with  elisions  of  the  letter  s  in  the  nomi- 
native case,  Mr.  Corsseri,  therefore  is  perfectly  right  in  saying, 
that  if  the  oldest  poets  neither  pronounced  nor  wrote  the  final 
s  as  a  full  consonant,  and  denied  its  right  to  make  a  vowel 
long  by  position,  when  followed  by  another  consonant  in  the 
beginning  of  the  next  word,  they  did  not  take  a  poetical 
license  but  followed  the  general  pronunciation  of  the  people ; 
and  Cicero  himself  who  calls  this  elision  of  the  final  s  before 
an  initial  consonant  of  the  next  word  subrusticum,  softens 
his  remark  by  the  prefix  "  sub."  To  this  we  add,  that  in  the  in- 
scriptions of  the  later  times  of  the  empire,  when  the  culture  and 
refinement  of  the  town  people  was  on  its  wane,  and  they  gradu- 
ally sank  down  to  the  level  of  the  rustic  population,  the  letter 
s  of  o-stems,  in  many  cases  began  no  longer  to  be  expressed  in 
writing,  as  in  the  old  Latin,  for  instance  in  Jlliu  for  filius, 
Longinu  for  Longinus,  Sepiu,  Mariu,  positu,  etc. ;  (compare 
the  dialect  of  the  Sardinian  island.)  This  furnishes  a  proof  that 
in  the  later  vulgar  tongue  the  final  s  was  no  longer  heard 
like  the  final  m.  Only  in  inscriptions  dating  from  the  latest 
times  of  the  empire,  the  letter  s  ceased  to  be  expressed  also 
in  cases  other  than  the  nominative  of  o-stems,  as  in  securitati 
for  securitatis,  incomparabili  for  incomparabilis,  Jovi  for 
Jo  vis,  nepoti  for  nepotis,  aetati  for  aetatis,  Isidi  for  Isidis, 
religioni  for  religionis,  Nicomedi  for  Nicomedis,  creati  for 
creatis,  qui  for  quis,  ani  for  anis,  anni  for  annis,  saltuosa  for 
saltuosas,  (I.,  120.)  Still,  even  in  inscriptions  of  these  latest 
times,  the  letter  s  of  the  genitive  singular  continued  to  be 
written  Gaesares  for  Caesaris,  campestres  for  campestris,  and 
some  other  forms,  and  thus  Mr.  Corssen  concludes  that  these 
sounds  had  not  yet  altogether  disappeared  from  the  mouth  of 
the  people.  The  Umbrian  language  goes  still  farther  than  the 
Latin  in  casting  off  the  final  s,  for  it  rejects  it  in  almost  all 


•  SIBILANTS.  57 

cases  except  in  the  genitive  singular  and  in  the  nominative, 
dative  and  ablative  plural  of  the  a-declension,  and  in  the 
dative  and  ablative  of  the  consonant  (third)  declension,  where 
the  preceding  vowels  a,  e  and  u  seem  to  retain  the  letter  ,sv, 
(I.,  121,)  if  we  do  not  prefer  to  suppose,  that  it  originally 
had  not  an  s  in  these  cases. 

Z. 

The  letter  ^according  to  Yarro  and  Yelius  Longinus  was 
found  in  the  oldest  Latin  alphabet  and  in  the  Carmen  Saliare. 
The  precise  time  when  it  became  obsolete,  is  not  known,  nor 
can  we  positively  say,  how  it  originally  sounded.*  In  the 
Umbrian  idiom  z  had  two  different  sounds,  a  compound  or 
double  one  =  ts,  at  the  end  of  the  words,  as  in  pihaz  Lat. 
piatus,  and  a  medial  or  soft  one  as  in  menzarum,  Lat.  men- 
sarum,  (cfr.  Aufrecht  and  Kirchhof  U.  Sp.  I,  p.  108.) 
After  the  letter  n  it  has  according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  the  same 
soft  sibilant  sound,  which  we  have  found  above  in  Latin  s 
after  n.  In  the  Oscan,  it  sounds  at  the  end  of  the  words 
like  ts,  as  in  horz,  Lat.  hortus  (Mommsen,  U.  D.,  p.  128,  139, 
140.)  In  the  middle  of  the  words  it  was,  like  the  Umbrian, 
a  soft  sibilant,  and  expressed  a  transition  from  the  soft  s  to  r 
in  the  genitive  plural  of  the  A-stems  [1  declension]-amm= 
asum,  Lat.  arum.  Which  of  these  two  different  sounds  of  the 
Italic  dialects  the  Latin  z  originally  had,  we  cannot  positively 
decide,  but  it  is  very  likely,  that  it  had  the  simple  and  soft, 
not  the  double  one  of  the  Greek,  since  it  had  separated  from  its 
sister-idiom,  before  this  underwent  its  zetacistic  changes  and  con- 
tinued for  many  centuries  without  exhibiting  traces  of  similar 
alterations.  We  know,  that  the  Latins  in  the  times  of  Plautus 

*  For  we  have  no  more  right  to  presume  from  the  identity  of  the 
sign  of  the  Greek  £  and  the  Latin  z  the  identity  of  their  sound 
than  we  have  to  claim  for  the  Latin  /  the  sound  of  the  Greek 
digamma,  because  the  Latins  have  adopted  the  Greek  sign  for  their 
peculiar  Italic  sound. 


58  CONSONANTS. 

and  Pacuvius  expressed  the  Greek  £  by  s  in  the  beginning, 
and  by  'ss  >  in  the  middle  of  words  after  a  short  vowel,  as  Sagun- 
tum,  sona  for  zona,  badissas,  malacisso,  Atticisso,  comissor, 
cyathisso,  and  even  at  a  period  still  later  we  meet  with  ss  in 
the  place  of  J  in  patrisso,  pytisso,  massa,  crotalisso,  hilarisso, 
(Schneider  Lat.  Gr.  L,  385,  and  according  to  this  analogy- 
are  formed  Graecisso,  tablisso.  From  the  fact  that  the 
single  s  in  the  beginning  and  the  double  s  in  the  middle  of 
the  words  expressed  the  same  sharp  sibilant,  Mr.  Corssen  con- 
cludes, that  to  the  ear  of  the  ancient  Romans  the  sound  of  the 
Greek  J  came  nearest  to  their  own  sharp  sibilant.  But  when 
the  sign  of  the  z  at  the  time  of  Cicero  was  re-introduced  into 
the  Latin  alphabet,  it  was  only  employed  in  foreign  and 
mostly  Greek  words,  and  it  was  not  until  the  later  empire 
that  the  assibilated  d,  t,  c,  g,  and  j  were  expressed  by  the 
sign  of  the  z.  See  our  excursus  on  the  zetacism  and  the  pro- 
nunciation of  the  Greek  and  Latin  z,  in  the  appendix. 

X. 

The  letter  X  is  included  by  Mr.  Corssen  among  the  sibil- 
ants, because  in  the  course  of  time  it  entirely  degenerated 
into  them.  We  have  seen  above,  in  our  article  on  the  alpha- 
bet, that  after  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  xs  was  sometimes 
written  instead  of  x.  This  mode  of  spelling  x  although  it 
never  became  prevalent,  still  shows  that  the  sibilant  was  the 
predominating  element ;  hence  before  consonants,  the  guttural 
element  of  x  was  entirely  lost,  and  nothing  remained  but  the 
sibilant  s,  e.  g.  sescent[_as~\  for  sexcentas,  Sestius  for  Sextius, 
praetestati  for  praetextati ;  and  the  remaining  sibilant  itself 
was  dropped  before  those  consonants  with  which  it  did  not 
agree,  viz.,  before  d,  n,  m,  v,  as  in  sedecim  for  sexdecim,  se-ni 
for  sexni,  se-mestris  for  sexmestris,  se-vir  for  sexvir.  This 
explanation  Mr.  Corssen  finds  confirmed  by  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  letter  x  in  the  mouth  of  the  Roman  people,  for 
in  inscriptions  dating  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century 


SEMI-VOWELS. 

we  find  visit,  bissitj  bisit  and  viset  for  vixil,  unsit  for  unxit, 
obstrinserit  for  obstrinxerit,  coins  for  cojux,  etc.  From 
these  examples  we  see,  that  at  this  time  the  guttural  element 
of  x  had  entirely  disappeared  from  the  popular  pronunciation, 
in  the  middle  of  a  word,  and  was  reduced  to  s  and  ss,  so  that 
the  letters  x  and  s  were  no  longer  accurately  distinguished, 
and  frequent  mistakes  were  made  in  their  use.  So  we  find 
xancto  for  sancto,  milex  for  miles,  tigrix  for  tigris,  and  on 
the  other  hand  frassinus  for  fraxinus,  tossicum  for  toxicum, 
trissago  for  trixago,  cossim  for  coxim.  [In  the  daughter- 
idioms  of  the  Latin,  we  either  find  the  letter  x  retained, 
as  in  French,  or  else  changed  into  the  guttural  aspirate,  as  in 
the  Spanish.  In  the  Portuguese  it  remained  in  Latin 
words,  but  was  changed  into  ss  in  Greek  ;  moreover,  as  an 
initial,  in  some  words  not  Latin  it  is  pronounced  sh,  and 
as  a  final,  in  some  Latin  words,  fs,  e.  g.  calix=fs  (pro- 
nounce califs'].  In  the  Italian  language  we  find  everywhere 
s  or  ss  for  x,  e.  g.  saggio  for  exagium,  massimo  for  maxima, 
spiegare  for  explicare,  straneo  for  extraneus,  vissifor  vixi, 
esempio  forexemplum,  sasso  for  saxum.  —In  some  instances 
it  is  entirely  dropped,  as  ia  tela  for  texela,  ala  for  axilla, 
mala  for  maxilla. 

Semi-Vowels. 
I  or  J. 

The  letter  /  in  the  Latin  language  was  either  a  vowel  or  a  ) 
consonant.  The  consonant  1  we  write  now  with  the  distinc-  j 
tive  sign  J.  As  an  initial,  before  a  vowel,  it  was  a  consonant, 
e.  g.  in  Juno,  Jupiter,  (Prise.  1,  18),  and  also  as  a  medial 
in  compounds,  e.  g.  in  abjudico,  adjungo,  conjectus.  Some- 
times the  semi-vowel  j"  is  dropped  before  i,  as  in  abicit  for 
abjicit,  obicit  for  objicit,  and  subicit  for  subjicit ;  but  this  is 
only  done  in  order  to  avoid  the  meeting  of  two  similar  sounds. 
The  simple  sound  of  j  also  remains  in  compounds,  where  the 
prefix  ends  in  a  vowel,  as  in  ejuro,  ejectus,  dijudico,  pejero 
6 


60  SEMI-VOWELS. 

for  perjuro,  etc.,  but  it  is  rejected  when  followed  by  i,  as  in 
eicit t  reicit,  proicit,  coicit.  As  regards  the  quantity  of  the 
vowel  before  j  it  remains  short  as  before  any  other  consonant, 
e.  g.  bijugus,  quadrijugus,  trijugus,  altijugus. 

As  a  medial,  in  uncornpounded  words  between  two  vowels, 
where,  according  to  Quintilian,  Cicero  wrote  a  double  i,  the 
semi-vowel  j  must  have  had  a  different  and  indeed  a  sharper 
sound,  for  Priscian  says  VII.,  19,  "  Solebant  illi  non  solum 
in  principio,  sed  etiam  in  fine  syllabae  ponere  i  loco  con- 
sonantis,  idque  in  vetustissimis  invenies  scripturis,  quo- 
tiens  inter  duas  vocales  ponitur  ut  l  eiius,  Pompeiius, 
Vtdteiius,  Gaiius  J  quod  etiam  omnes,  qui  de  litera  curi- 
osius  scripserunt,  affirmant."  The  method  of  writing  I  I 
was  thus  customary,  according  to  Priscian,  in  the  oldest 
manuscripts,  and,  moreover,  was  approved  by  Cicero  and  all 
other  authorities  in  grammar ;  hence  also  it  is  found  in  in- 
scriptions, as  in  Pompeiius,  Opetreiiae,  Sabineiius.  In  the 
Spanish  inscriptions  of  Salpensa  and  Malacca  we,  likewise,  find 
eiius  together  with  elus,  eilusdem,  cuilus,  cuilusque.  and 
mailorum  together  with  maloris  and  ma  I  or  em,  with  this 
exception  that  in  the  place  of  the  second  i  is  written  the  tali  /. 

According  to  Mr.  Aufrecht,  wherever  there  is  found,  in 
the  middle  of  a  word,  before  J  a  long  vowel,  it  is  either  long 
by  nature,  or  else  it  was  made  long  by  the  rejection  of  a  con- 
sonant, as  in  Acteius  (L,  129).  The  original  form  of  this 
suffix  in  the  Italic  tongues  was — aijo  ;  from  this,  by  the 
blending  of  the  diphthong,  were  obtained  aejo,  eijo,  ejo,  Ijo, 
and  by  the  dropping  of  j,  aio,  aeo,  eo,  w,  L'o.  Thus  we  find 
the  Osc.  Pompaiians,  Lat.  Annaeius,  Pompeiia,  and  Osc. 
vereiiai,  and  the  Latin  Anneius,  Osc.  vereias,  Umbr.  Muse  ate, 
Kureiate,  and  the  Lat.  Opetreius,  Sabineus.  According  to 
Mr.  Gorssen,  the  long  vowel  before  the  genitive  ending  ius  in 
ejus,  hujus  must  be  explained  likewise,  either  by  the  blending 
of  two  consonants,  or  the  rejection  of  a  consonant.  Still  as 
these  forms  can  also  be  explained  some  other  way,  and  neither 
is  perfectly  clear,  he  leaves  this  question  undecided,  (L,  129). 


SEMI-VOWELS.  61 

According  to  Mr.  Corssen  (L,  130,)  the  preceding  syllable 
is  made  long  by  the  elision  of  g,  in 

major,  majus  for  magius,  Majus  for  Magius,  pulejum  for 
pulegium,  aio  for  agio  (Sanscr.  ah,  dicere),  mejo  for  migio, 
(mingo,  fyu'*ea),  Seja  for  Segia  (comp.  seges)  ; 

by  the  elision  of  v  before  j,  in  Gdjus  for  Gavius,  Osc. 
Gaaviis  ; 

by  the  elision  of  r  in  pejero  for  perjero  (comp.  perjurium)  ; 

by  the  elision  of  a  simple  s,  or  of  an  s  with  a  preceding  n, 
in  dijudico  for  disjudico,  trajicio  for  transjicio  ; 

by  the  elision  of  x  or  cs,  in  sejugis  for  sexjugis. 

Thus,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  we  would  also,  have  to 
give  up  the  idea,  that  in  the  words  bajalus,  Bojae,  cajare, 
jejunus,  Majalis,  pejor,  Trajanus,  the  preceding  vowel  was 
made  long  by  the  letter,/. 

As  regards  the  sound  of  j  in  uncompounded  words,  between 
two  vowels,  Yelius  Long,  says,  "  Atqueipsa  natura  j  literae 
est,  ut  interjecta  vocalibus  latins  enuntietur,  dum  et  prior 
earn  asserit  et  sequens  sibi  vindicat."  It  was  thus  a  leng- 
thened sound,  which,  on  this  very  account,  was  pronounced 
more  softly  and  more  like  a  vowel,  and  which,  by  the  Greek, 
was  represented  by  a  simple  i  as  in  ratoi»,  Tpaia^o?,  Mctforou&qtai', 
noprfqui,  etc.,  (I.  131).  Greek  words  which  became  domesti- 
cated in  the  Latin  language,  were  pronounced  with  the  soft, 
broad  or  lengthened  i,  as  Achaja,  Ajax,  Grajus,  Maja,  while 
others  that  only  occurred  in  the  higher  poetry  of  the  Romans, 
retained  the  sharper  Greek  pronunciation,  as  Aglaia,  Ceius, 
Laius,  Naias,  Pleias,  Teius. 

The  letter  j,  as  an  initial,  in  simple  words,  and  in  the 
second  member  of  compounds,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen  (I., 
132),  was  pronounced  like  the  German  j  [in  Jahr,  or  y  in 
year~\  ;  but,  inasmuch  as  by  virtue  of  the  position  of  the 
organs  of  speech  in  its  pronunciation,  especially  of  the 
tongue,  it  is  very  nearly  related  to  the  rough  sibilant  (sh),  it 
had  in  the  beginning  [?]  a  sibilant  admixture,  which,  at  an 
early  season,  assibilated  the  letters  c  and  /,  and  afterwards  d 


52  SEMI-VOWELS. 

and  g.  Moreover,  it  exercised  on  all  preceding  consonants  a 
dissolving  and  annihilating  influence.  Thus,  in  Jo  vis  instead 
of  Diovis,  and  Janus  instead  of  Dianus,  it  destroyed  the 
letter  d,  in  major  and  ajo  the  letter  g,  in  Gajus  the  letter 
v,  in  pejero  the  letter  r,  in  dijudico  the  letter  s,  and  in 
sejugis  the  letter  #,  and  [we  may  add,  by  the  preparative 
intermediate  sound  of  ds,  ts,  z,  as  in  xo£ov  for  cujus,  and  Zesu 
for  Jesu,  it  was  changed  in  the  Italian  into  the  double  sound 
dsht  which,  in  the  French  and  Portuguese  languages  was 
reduced  into  sh,  while  in  the  Spanish  it  was  only  weakened 
into  the  guttural  aspirate.] 

Y. 

Cicero  classes  the  semi-vowel  v  among  the  labial  conso- 
nants, and  Priscian  says,  "  Van  id  est  digamma."  In  the 
older  Greek  writings  the  Oscan  v  was  represented  by  F,  but 
in  the  later  writing,  in  proper  nouns,  partly  by  B  and  partly 
by  Ov,  and  sometimes  by  both  at  the  same  time,  and  in  Latin 
appellatives  by  6  only,  e.  g.  Ovdfyw  and  Ba/3jW  for  Varro, 
Ovd^ys  and  Bca?7?  for  Vales,  Ovafovtta  and  Bax^ru*  for  Valen- 
tia,  OvfpytVtoj,  Bfpyau*  and  BtpytAta  for  Virgil,  etc.  ;  M^ovjStai-oj 
for  Mevianus,  and  j3lpva  for  verna,  (ylp/3o$  for  servus,  fieatidpiov 
for  vestiarium,  xopfitvtos  for  oonvenlus,  etc.-,  (I.,  133.) 

As  an  initial,  v  or  F  was  preserved  in  the  Latin,  whilst  it 
was  lost  in  the  Greek,  e.  g.  vomo  and  IUE'W,  voco  and  lrtu>, 
volvo  and  «?uo,  vinum  and  o^oj,  vzoZa  and  lov,  vitulus  and 
traTioj,  ver  and  j?p,  vespera  and  Icy^fpa,  Vesta  and  Itrrta,  vestis 
and  Jor^j,  etc.  On  the  other  hand,  it  was  elided  before  con- 
sonants in  the  Latin  language,  while  the  Greeks,  in  the  Aeolic 
and  Doric  dialects,  according  to  Messrs.  Ahrens  and  Diet- 
rich, preserved  it  in  ]3  which  was  put  in  the  place  of  the 
digamma,  e.  g.  radix  and  /3pi£a,  rosa  and  /3po6o*>;  rigo  and 
|3pl^w,  rugio  and  /3pv^ao^at,  (I.,  134.) 

As  a  medial,  it  throws  off  a  preceding  d  and  #,  as  in  bellum 
for  dvellum,  duellum,  bis  for  I'i's  from  cZuis,  viginti  for 


SEMI-VOWELS.  63 

ginti,  fiver e  for  figvere,  figere,  etc.  With  regard  to  Mr. 
Corssen's  theory  that  the  letter  v  casts  off  also  a  preceding  / 
in  the  perfect  tense,  thus  that  proba-vi  stands  for  proba-fui 
and  mon-ui  for  mone-fui,  we  cannot  agree  with  him,  as  there 
is  not  the  slightest  occasion  of  such  a  supposition  ;  for  in  the 
Urabrian  language  we  find/  between  two  vowels  in  the  place 
of  the  Latin  v,  also  in  other  words.  Moreover,  the  letter  u 
infui  docs  not  at  all  express  the  past  tense,  as  has  been  very 
justly  observed  by  Prof.  Harrison,  and  we  may  add,  that 
even,  if  the  termination  vi  or  ui  is  derived  from  the  older 
form/uw,  the  syllable  vi  in  this  word  is  as  much  a  perfect- 
ending,  as  in  the  word  flevi,  and  its  origin  is  thus  by  no 
means  solved ;  this  we  shall  endeavor  to  do  in  some  other 
place. 

Mr.  Corssen  continues,  (I,  134),  the  reduction  of  v  into  u, 
after  consonants,  is  of  very  old  date ;  thus  we  find  tui  and 
tuus  for  Saner,  tvam,  sui  and  suus  for  Sanscr.  svas,  suavis 
for  Sanscr.  svadus  [as  Germ,  suss  for  Engl.  sweet.]  Thus 
also  vo  is  changed  into  uo  in  vacuus  for  vacvus,  perpetuus 
for  perpetvus,  relicuus  for  relicvus,  assiduus  for  assidvus, 
perspicuus  for  perspicvus,  farther  in  caeduus,  exiguus, 
vidua,  fatuus,  mortuus,  ingenuus,  while  it  is  retained  after 
r  and  I  in  alvus,  arvum,  calvus,  larva,  salvus,  ervum,  malva, 
acervus,  silva,  urvus,  ulvus,  curvus.  Hence  Mr.  Corssen 
holds  that  resolutions  such  as  dissoluo,  evoluam,  siliia,  lariia, 
miliios,  are  artificial  productions  of  higher  poetry,  which  did 
not  take  their  origin  in  the  language  of  the  people. 

Lastly  the  letter  v  is  even  elided  after  d,  t  and  s,  as  has 
been  done  in  most  ancient  times  after  t  and  s  in  te  and  tibi 
together  with  genitive  tui,  Sanscr.  tvam,  in  se  and  sibi  together 
with  sui,  Sanscr.  svas  ;  just  as  in  Greek  the  digamma  is  re- 
jected after  <j  originating  from  t,  as  in  crov,  <w,  $«,  06$,  and  after 
the  rough  breathing  which  was  softened  from  0,  as  in  oS,  ol, «. 
In  Ennius,  also,  we  find  sis  for  suis,  and  we  hence  conclude 
that  at  his  time  the  forms  sus,  sa,  sum  were  in  use  instead  of 
suus,  suat  suum.  The  letter  v  is  elided  in  a  similar  manner 
6* 


64  SEMI-VOWELS, 

in  savium  for  suavium,  quattor  for  quattuor,  quatuor,  sua- 
dere  for  suadvere,  suavis  for  svadvis,  Sanscr.  svadus. 

The  letter  v  also  is  resolved  into  u,  whenever,  after  rejecting 
a  vowel,  it  comes  into  contact  with  a  consonant  following,  and 
the  diphthong  which  is  formed  by  this  means,  in  some  cases,  is 
even  found  to  coalesce  into  a  single  vowel,  e.  g.  gaudeo  for 
gavideo,  from  which  there  was  an  ancient  perfect  gavisi,  which 
was  afterwards  superseded  by  gavisus  sum,  auceps  for  avi- 
ceps,  auspicium  for  avispicium,  aucella  for  avicella,  avicula, 
Opiter  for  Aupiter,  Ampater,  Opetraiius,  Opetreius,  etc., 
(I.,  136.)  Thus  also,  according  to  Cicero,  we  find  cauneas 
in  the  mouth  of  the  people,  for  cave  ne  eas.  In  a  similar  man- 
ner, ov,  after  rejecting  the  following  vowel,  is  resolved  into 
the  diphthong  ou,  which  finally  passes  off  into  the  single  vowel 
5,  e.  g.  nuper  for  novumper,  Nounas  for  Novenas,  nunc  for 
novumce,  Jupiter  for  Jovi[s~]piter,  Nouceriam  for  Novice- 
riam,  Juno  for  Jo  vino,  jucundus  for  jovicundus,  prudens 
for  providens,  nundinum  for  noundinum,  novendinumt 
upilio  (opilio)  for  ovipilio.  In  a  like  manner  we  find  prug- 
nus  (priugnus)  for  privignus  (privigenus). 

From  these  facts  Mr.  Corssen  concludes,  that  in  case  the 
letter  v,  as  a  medial,  where  it  comes  into  contact  with  a  con- 
sonant, had  had  a  soft  vowel-like  sound,  this  consonant  or  the 
letter  v  itself  would  not  have  been  so  often  rejected.  The  letter 
v,  therefore,  as  an  initial,  and  also  as  a  medial,  whenever  it 
1  came  next  to  a  consonant,  had  the  same  consonant-like  sound, 
as  the  English  v  and  German  w. 

In  the  middle  of  words,  between  two  vowels,  the  letter  v  is 
liable  to  be  dissolved  by  them,  like  the  letters  h,  s  and  j.  It 
is  simply  dropped,  as  in  the  following  words,  bourn  for  bovum, 
Gnaeus  comp.  Grnaivod,  petii  for  petivi,  [we  learn  from  the 
manuscripts  that  the  letter  v  is  seldom  omitted  in  the  first 
person  sing.,]  redierint  for  rediverint,  fui  [for  fuvi~],  etc., 
(I.,  13*1,  138.)  The  dropping  of  v  causes  that  of  the  follow- 
ing vowel,  e.  g.  praes  for  praevides,  praeco,  for  praevoco, 
nolo  for  nevolo  malo  for  mavolo,  commorunt  commoverunt, 


VOWELS.  65 

aetas  for  ae vitas,  ditior  for  divitior,  vita,  for  wivtta,  nomus 
for  novimus,  obliscar  for  obliviscar. 

In  the  later  vulgar  tongue  this  process  of  softening  and 
destroying  the  letter  v,  between  two  vowels,  was  carried  still 
farther,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  examples  from  the  in- 
scriptions, viz.  :  Faonius  for  Favonius,  fluium  for  Jluvium, 
Flaus  for  Flavus,  Bataus  for  Batavus,  paimento  for  pavi- 
mento,  auncutus  (pnculus)  for  avunculus,  Juent.for  Juven- 
tins.  Observe  also  the  following  forms  of  the  perfect  tense 
in  the  a-conjugation,  which  are  similar  to  the  Italian,  but 
have  originated  in  the  Latin  language  itself,  viz.  :  laborait 
for  labor  avit,  probai  for  probavi,  probait  for  probavit,  pro- 
baimus  for  probavimus  ;  [there  is  this  distinction,  however, 
that  in  the  Italian  language,  in  the  third  person  singular,  the 
letter  v,  instead  of  being  rejected,  is  changed  into  u,  and  the 
diphthong  au  is,  afterwards,  contracted  into  o  ;  the  last  syl- 
lable it,  afterwards,  is  dropped,  and  instead  of  lengthening 
the  vowel  into  dmo,  as  is  usually  the  case,  the  letter  m  is 
sharpened  and  we  read  ammo]. 

Mr.  Corssen,  however,  is  perfectly  right  in  concluding  from 
these  facts,  that  the  letter  v  between  two  vowels,  sounded 
more  softly  and  more  like  a  vowel,  than  in  the  beginning  of  a 
word ;  thus,  that  it  sounded  more  like  the  English  w  than  v. 


Vowels. 
A. 

Mr.  Corssen  says,  the  vowel  A  is  the  fullest,  loudest  and 
noblest  among  the  vowels,  because  in  its  pronunciation,  the 
air,  issuing  from  the  breast  and  larynx,  passes  out  with  the 
greatest  freedom  and  fullness,  and  with  the  least  obstruction, 
through  the  widely  opened  cavity  of  the  mouth,  patulo 
maxime  ore,  as  Quintilian  has  it.  In  its  pronunciation  the 
muscles  of  the  larynx  only  are  in  decided  activity,  while  the 


66  VOWELS. 

opened   lips  are   passive,  and  the  tongue  is  at  rest.     The 
vowel  A  therefore  among  all  consonants  is  most  intimately 
related  to  the  gutturals,  [of  this  relationship  Mr.  Corssen, 
does  not  furnish  any  proof].     Neither  the  declaration  of  any 
ancient  author,  nor  any  other  trace,  leads  us  to  suppose,  that 
in  the  Latin  language,  when  the  letter  A  was  written,  there 
was  ever  pronounced  any  other  sound  than  the  pure,  full  a  in 
far   or  its  corresponding  short  sound.     That  the  short  as 
well  as  the  long  a  had  the  same  pure  A-sound,  is  proved 
also  by  the  verses  of  Lucilius,  Ter.  Scaur.,  p.  2255. 
*  A  '  primum  longa,  brevis  syllaba,  nos  tamen  unum 
Hoc  faciemus,  et  uno  eodemque  ut  dicimus  pacto, 
Scribemus :  '  pacem,  placide,  Janum,  aridum,  acetumj 
1  vApf $,  *Ap*$,  Graeci  ut  faciunt. 

The  vowel  A,  under  the  influence  of  neighboring  conso- 
nants, and  of  the  stress  or  arsis,  was  weakened,  on  the  one 
hand,  into  o  and  u,  and,  on  the  other,  into  e  and  i,  and,  iu 
the  course  of  time  was  spelled  with  these  vowel-signs.  Mr. 
Corssen,  together  with  Mr.  Dietrich,  is  perfectly  right  in 
assigning  as  a  reason  for  this  process  of  weakening  the 
method  of  accentuation,  formerly  in  use  among  the  Romans. 
Whenever  they,  by  composition,  or  reduplication,  added  a 
new  syllable  to  a  word,  by  which  its  signification  became 
more  marked,  or  more  narrowly  defined  and  intensified,  they 
usually  laid  the  stress  upon  these  syllables,  and  not  only  in 
words,  such  as  concipit,  prohibet,  Juppiter,  pepulit,  cecidit, 
fefellit,  but  also  in  words  like  the  following,  viz.,  defendi, 
inermis,  diluvium,  [pepulerit,  pepulissef].  For  the  same 
reason,  the  final  stem-vowel  of  the  second  member  of  com- 
pounds was,  in  a  like  manner,  sometimes  weakened  into  i,  the 
lightest  and  most  slender  of  the  vowels.  Thus  a  is  changed 
into  i  in  bilinguis,  elinguis  from  lingua,  imberbis  from  barba, 
compernis  from  perna,  biformis,  triformis,  multiformis 
from  forma,  subtilis  from  tela ;  an  original  o  is  changed  into 
i  in  exanimis,  semianimis  from  animus  (a»f/to$),  biennis, 
triennis  from  annus  (annos),  bilustris  from  lustrum,  tri- 


VOWELS.  67 

membris  from  membrum,  biremis,  triremis  from  remus, 
insignis  from  signum,  inermis  from  arm[um~];  u  is  changed 
into  i,  in  bicornis,  tricornis,  unicornis  from  cornu. 

In  unaccented  syllables,  either  before  or  after  the  syllable 
which  had  the  stress,  in  the  Old-Latin,  the  vowel  a  was 
changed  into  o,  and  afterwards  into  u,  e.  g.  vocivus  for 
vacii-us,  vocuus  for  vacuus,  vocatio  for  vacatio,  vox  (voc-s), 
Sanscr.  vdcas;  Sanscr.  ndvas,  Latin  novus,  Gr.  j/fo$,  'Exdpy, 
Hecoba,  Hecuba,  'Hpax^c,  Hercoles,  Hercules.  It  was 
changed  into  it,  before  the  labials  p,  b}  m,  v,  e.  g.  aucupor, 
aucupium,  occupio  and  occupo  from  capio ;  derupio,  sur- 
rupio,  surruptus,  and  eruptus  from  rapio ;  contubernium 
for  contabernium,  condumnare  from  damnare.  It  passed  over 
into  u,  before  a  simple  I,  or  I  followed  by  another  consonant, 
e.  g.  insulio,  desulio,  dissulio  from  salio,  exsulto  for  exsalto, 
insulsus  for  insalsus.  A  passed  over  into  u  from  o,  in 
concutio  for  conquutio  from  conquotio,  conquatio. 

A,  when  it  is  the  stem-vowel  of  the  second  member  of 
compounds,  and  when  it  closes  a  syllable,  is  weakened  into  i, 
e.  g.  in  accipio  from  capio,  inhibeo  from  habeo,  confiteor 
from  fateor,  displiceo  from  placeo,  prodigus  for  pro-agus 
from  a<7<?,  recino  from  canot  eminus  from  manus,  inimicus 
from  amicus,  enim  and  etenim  from  nam.  Before  Z,  Mr. 
Corssen  says,  the  vowel  is  only  weakened  into  w,  and  in 
words  like  the  following,  viz.,  dissilio,  insilio,  exsilium, 
domicilium,  supercilium,  upilio  for  ovipilio  (from  pal  =  to 
pasture,  Greek  Ttoa. — in  ou7t6a.o$  =  atyortoxo^  [j3ov7to7,oj  and  not 
|3ovrtcao$  as  Mr.  Corssen  has  it],  the  letter  u  has  been  assimi- 
lated into  i  by  the  i  of  the  following  syllable.  To  this  we 
would  add,  that  this  sound  of  i  is  avoided,  whenever  the  i  of 
the  following  syllable  is  preceded  by  d  or  t,  e.  g.  perpetior 
instead  of  perpitior  from  patior ;  aggredior,  congredior, 
progredior,  regredior  for  aggridior,  etc.,  from  gradior, 
defetigo  instead  of  defitigo  from  fatigo,  defetiscor  for  defitis- 
cor  from  fatiscor :  that  this  is  the  reason,  we  see  fromfateor, 
lateo,  from  which  unhesitatingly  are  formed  confiteor,  pro- 


68  VOWELS. 

fiteor,  delitesco  ;  thus,  in  order  to  explain  the  letter  e  in 
ingredior,  etc.,  there  is  no  need  to  have  recourse  to  the  retro- 
acting  influence  of  the  liquid  r  (which  never  exists),  as  is 
done  by  Mr.  Corssen  (I.,  317).  As  regards  the  letter  i  in 
infitiae  from  fateor,  i  has  been  retained,  because  it  had  pre- 
viously been  adopted  in  all  other  compounds.  In  order  to 
avoid  the  repetition  of  two  i's,  the  first  i  is  also  changed  into 
e,  before  c,  in  depeciscor  from  paciscor,  and  imbecillus  from 
bacillus,  baculus. 

The  short  e,  however,  is  used  regularly  instead  of  the  short 
i,  in  unaccented  syllables,  before  r,  e.  g.  in  aequiperare  for 
aequiparare,  vipera,  according  to  Mr  Corssen,  for  dm- 
pera  [to  us  it  seems  more  natural  to  derive  it  from  vivipara, 
virpara,  vipera,']  puerpera  for  puer-para,  etc.,  (I.,  314- 
316.)  Before  the  sibilant  s,  a  is  changed  in  unaccented 
syllables  into  i,  e.  g.  sem-is  semissis,  from  as,  assis. 

A  is  weakened  into  e  in  a  close  syllable,  before  one  or  two 
consonants,  e.  g.  ambiegnus,  ambegnus  from  ambi  and  agnust 
peregrinus  from  ager,  consecro  from  sacer,  ascendo  from 
scando,  impertio  from  partio  \_expers  from  pars,]  aspergo 
from  spargo,  confercio  from  farcio,  tubicen  from  cano, 
condemno  from  damno,  biennium,  sollenne,  etc.,  from  annusf 
refello  from  fallo,  ineptus  from  aptus,  anceps  for  ambiceps 
from  caputj  [princeps  from  capio,']  remex  from  remum 
agere,  bes,  bessis  from  as,  assis.  Praefiscine  from  fasci- 
num,  and  semis,  semissis  from  as,  assis  make  an  exception 
and  change  a  into  i. 

A  long  is  changed  into  long  e  in  anhelare  from  halo. 

A  long,  in  the  old  Latin,  has  been  weakened  into  a  short, 
in  the  nominative  of  the  a-declension,  as  Mr.  Corssen  (I., 
330.  331),  has  shown  in  a  number  of  examples,  and,  at  a  still 
earlier  period,  the  ending  am  of  the  accusative  case  has  been 
shortened  ;  of  the  accusative  case  there  is,  however,  no  longer 
any  trace  left  (I.,  361.)  The  letter  a  was,  also,  shortened  in 
two  ablative  adverbs,  viz.  :  contra  and  ita,  and  by  later 
poets,  in  numerals  ending  in  a,  viz.  :  triginta,  quadraginta, 


VOWELS.  69 

(I.,  131.  132.)  As  regards  the  vowel  a  of  the  a-conjugation, 
it  continued  long,  even  in  dd,  but  was  shortened  in  ddt,  ddbdt, 
as  early  as  the  time  of  Plautus.  In  the  iambic  form  roga  it 
was  shortened  by  Plautus,  as  in  the  final  syllable  of  iambic 
forms,  (L,  332.) 

Vowels,  originally  long,  regularly  became  short,  when  in 
the  final  syllable  they  were  immediately  followed  by  a  final 
t.  The  older  poets  partly  preserved  these  long  vowels,  and 
some  traces  of  them  are  found  even  in  the  poets  of  the  Augus- 
tan age,  viz.  :  Virgil,  Horace  and  Ovid. 

Cum  clamor e  Gyas  revocabdt:  Ecce   Cloanthum.  i 

Nusquam  amitlebdt,  oculosque  sub  astra  tenebat,  Aen.  V., 
853.  See  also  erdt  in  Horace,  Sat.,  II.,  2,  47,  and  several 
other  passages.  That  the  letter  a  in  bdt  of  the  imperfect 
tense  was  originally  long,  can  be  seen  in  the  forms  bds — bd- 
mus,  bdtis.  According  to  Bopp,  bd  is  to  be  derived  from 
bava,  and  6dm  from  a-bhavam,  from  the  root  bhu-,  Lat.  fu-. 
The  long  d  in  eras,  erdmus  is  not  yet  sufficiently  explained, 
(I.,  349).  The  vowel  a  of  the  third  person  singular  subjunc- 
tive present  is,  also,  found  long  in  two  places  in  Plautus,  and 
in  one  in  Terence  and  Horace,  Sat.  I.,  5,  90  ;  however  it  had 
been  shortened  already  by  Plautus  in  words  of  two  syllables, 
viz.,  £at,  firat,  (I.,  349).  The  long  d  in  the  subjunctive 
mood,  which  corresponds  to  07  in  Greek,  and  ya  in  Sanscrit,  as 
Mr.  Corssen  observes  (I.,  349.  250.),  thus  dates  back  to  the 
remotest  antiquity.  In  the  passive  voice,  also,  before  r,  the 
letter  a  of  the  present  subjunctive  is  still  found  long  in  Plautus, 
and  in  one  place  in  Ovid,  however  only  in  the  arsis,  Met., 
VII.,  51,  ferdr. 

The  vowel  a  was  also  shortened  in  neuter  nominatives  in  or, 
derived  from  adjectives,  and,  likewise,  in  the  Punic  name 
Hamilcar,  (I.,  561)  ;  and  in  the  nominative  of  the  nouns 
formed  of  the  suffix  ali,  after  dropping  the  letter  i,  as  cer- 
vical, animal,  Baccanal,  etc.,  and  also,  in  the  Punic  names 
Hannibal,  Hasdrubal,  Adherbal,  Maharbal,  while  Ennius 
and  the  older  poets  still  scanned  Hannibdlis,  etc.  From 


70  VOWELS. 

the  nominative  case  this  process  of  shortening  entered  all  the 
other  oblique  cases,  (I.,  366.) 

Contrary  to  the  rule,  the  letter  a  appears  shortened  in  rogdn 
and  rogas,  (I.,  367.)  In  olden  times  even  the  verbal  forms 
in  am  are  found  shortened,  as  in  tegam,  audiam,  eram,  tege- 
bam,  texeram,  (1.,  368.)  A  long  is  also  found  shortened  in 
ddbam  from  dare,  ndtare  from  ndre,  Idbare  from  Idbi,  deer- 
bus  from  acer,  Grddivus  and  Gradivus,  (I.,  371.)  An 
unaccented  a  appears  shortened  in  the  a-declension,  when- 
ever it  is  followed  by  another  vowel  as  in  vide;  likewise, 
when  it  has  the  accent  and  is  followed  by  another  vowel,  as  in 
dis  and  aft,  together  with  dis  and  din,  (II.,  158.) 

As  regards  the  ten  verbs  of  the  a-conjugation  which,  in  the 
perfect  tense,  have  ui  and  not  avi,  Mr.  Corssen's  explanation 
appears  to  us  too  artificial,  and  we  wonder  that,  while  in 
treating  on  the  verbs  son-are  and  ton-are,  he  seemed  to  be 
on  the  right  track,  by  tracing  them  back  to  the  simple  forms 
son-ere  and  ton-ere,  he  did  not  carry  his  analogy  further,  and 
assume  the  same  original  forms  in  the  case  of  the  remaining 
eight ;  for  no  one  would  have  objected  to  his  assertion,  that 
the  letter  a  of  the  a-conjugation,  as  well  as  the  letters  e  and  i 
of  the  other  contracted  conjugations,  do  not  belong  to  the 
stem,  but  are  suffixes  which  must  be  cast  aside,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  the  proper  verbal  stems.  The  suffix  a  of  the  a-con- 
jugation, for  the  most  part,  is  contracted  of  aja  (ay a),  and 
indicates  a  making,  causing  or  effecting  of  the  stem-significa- 
tion. After  arriving  at  the  simple  stem,  one  of  the  various 
endings  of  the  aorist  (or  whatever  you  may  call  it,)  which  the 
Latin  language  acquired  during  the  course  of  its  existence,  is 
appended,  either  immediately  to  the  stem,  or  else  mediately 
to  the  suffixes  a,  e,  i,  and  so  forth.  The  same  difficulty  Mr. 
Corssen  necessarily  finds  in  amicio,  aperio,  operio,  of  the 
i-conjugation,  where  he  must  likewise  explain  the  suffix  ui: 
if  he  explains  it  there  in  the  same  way  us  in  the  a-conjugation, 
he  is  at  once  led,  by  the  second  perfect-form  of  amicio,  viz.  : 
amic-si,  amixi,  to  the  simple  stem  amic}  just  as  in  the  verbs 


VOWELS.  71 

sancio,  vincio,  he  must  admit  the  stems  sane  and  vine,  in 
order  to  explain  the  perfect-forms  sanxi  and  vinxi.  The 
same  case  is  found  in  the  e-conjugation,  where  in  the  perfect 
forms  ar-si,  pe-pend-i,  mo-mord-i,  vidi,  we  must  have  as 
much  recourse  to  stems  ard ,  pend-,  mord-,  vid-,  as  in  the 
perfect-form  vtn-i  to  ven-*  (compare  the  Greek  forms  SOX-E-W, 
ti^-g-tt,  ya/t-f-w.)  Unless  we  are  willing  to  make  short  work 
with  all  these  formations,  and  to  throw  them  pell-mell  into 
the  convenient  corner,  reserved  in  all  grammars  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  so-called  irregular  verbs,  we  must  admit  these 
simple  stems,  of  which,  on  the  one  hand,  the  perfect  tense  is 
derived,  and,  on  the  other,  the  stems  of  the  present  tense  are 
formed.  The  most  simple  original  form  seems  to  have  been 
that,  where  the  mere  stem,  e.  g.  scand,  vort  or  vert,  sufficed 
to  express  the  aorist  of  the  verb,  which  tense  we  regard  as 
the  primitive  formation.  Of  this  we  have  glimpses  in  the 
Sanscrit.  The  second  form  expressed  a  past  action  by  a 
partial  repetition  of  the  stem  of  the  verb,  viz.  :  (mord-e-o) 
mo-mord-i,  (pu[n]g-o)  pu-pug-i,  (tend-o)  te-tend-i.  In  the 
third  form  the  syllable  vi  is  added  to  the  stem,  which,  after  a 
consonant,  was  changed  into  ui,  but  after  the  suffixes  a,  e,  i, 
remained  vi.  The  fourth  form  consisted  in  the  syllable  si. 

The  vowel  a  is  dropped  in  suffixes,  but  very  rarely,  e.  g.  in 
virgo  for  virago,  after  it  had  first  been  shortened  into  virigo  ; 
it  is  also  dropped  in  palma  from  *oxa/M?,  cupressus  for 
xurtapctfcroj,  in  cogo  for  coago,  in  coctus  for  coactus,  and 
colescat,  colescere,  colueruntfor  coalesco,  coalescere  and 
coaluerunt,  (I.,  135.) 

*  The  simple  stem,  without  i,  we  also  find  in  other  forms,  men- 
tioned by  Mr.  Cors«en,  viz:  prospices  for  prospicies,  (I.,  119,)  which 
we  have  discussed  above,  and  (II.,  147,  148,)  convenant  for  conveniant, 
pervenam  for  perveniam,  pervenas  for  pervenias,  in  Plautus,  and  evenat 
for  eveniat  in  Ennius. 
f 


72  VOWELS. 


E. 

The  sound  of  e,  compared  with  that  of  a,  is  produced  by 
raising  the  tongue  towards  the  palate,  and  narrowing  by  this 
means  the  cavity  of  the  mouth,  so  that  the  air  issuing  from 
the  wind-pipe,  traverses  a  more  contracted  passage.  Quin- 
tilian  calls  the  letter  e  ' planior  litera,'  which  gives  us  some 
clue  to  its  pronunciation. 

Neither  the  short  nor  the  long  e  preserved  always  the  same 
sound  in  the  Latin  language.  The  short  e  in  verber,  arm''- 
ger,  gener,  pater,  inter  was  no  doubt  pronounced  as  in  the 
English  words  father,  mother,  sister,  or  rather  as  in  dishes, 
kisses,  etc.  ;  but  it  sounded  differently,  and  more  like  i,  in 
the  Old-Latin,  in  words  like  the  following,  viz.,  tempestatebus 
for  tempestatibus,  mereto  for  merito,  Menervai  for  Minervae, 
fameliai  for  familiae,  since  in  the  language  of  the  educated, 
at  the  time  of  the  rise  of  the  literature  and  during  its  most 
flourishing  state,  it  was  changed  into  i.  We  differ,  however, 
with  Mr.  Corssen  who  says,  that  this  e  which  was  changed 
into  i,  afterwards  turned  into  e  again  ;  for  we  hold,  that 
although  this  same  e  was  temporarily  changed  into  i,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  educated,  it  still  continued  to  be  pronounced 
like  e  in  the  mouth  of  the  people.  Thus,  neither  the  long  e 
was  always  pronounced  in  the  same  way ;  for,  sometimes,  it 
inclined  more  to  the  sound  of  ae  or  ai  in  pair,  and,  at  another 
time,  more  to  the  long  sound  of  i  in  machine,  fatigue,  intrigue. 
In  the  oldest  popular  language,  even  e  was  pronounced  for  ae  or 
ai,  as  in  questores  for  quaestores,  Pestano  for  Paistano, 
Paestano,  Cesula  for  Caesula,  Victorie  for  Victoriae, 
Diane  for  Dianae,  etc.,  and  by  the  rustic  population,  at  the 
time  of  Yarro,  edus  was  pronounced  instead  of  haedus, 
Mesius  instead  of  Maesius,  pretorem  instead  of  praetorem. 
In  the  later  vulgar  tongue,  the  sounds  of  ae  and  e  were  no 
longer  distinguished  at  all,  and  were  used  indiscriminately, 
e.  g.  caena  and  cena,  caespes  and  cespes,  haedus  and  edus, 


VOWELS.  73 

maerere  and  merere,  paenuria  and  penuria,  etc.  But 
Quintilian,  on  the  other  hand,  mentions  an  e  which  sounded 
more  like  the  long  I  in  machine  ;  for  he  says,  "in  'here' 
[heri]  neque  e  neque  i  auditur  ;"  that  intermediate  sound 
between  e  and  i,  was  expressed  in  the  times  before  Augustus 
by  ei.  This  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i  must,  also, 
be  assumed  in  the  ablatives  of  i-stems,  e.  g.  in  classe,  fine, 
amne,  ave,  calle,  orbe,  ungue,  sorte,  etc.  ;  for  in  these  stems 
there  also  occurs  an  ablative  ending  in  i  which  has  preserved 
the  original  long  sound  of  vowel  at  the  end  of  words,  while 
it  has  been  shortened  in  the  ablatives  in  e,  [here  we  would 
say  that  it  has  generally  been  shortened,  for  we  still  find  it 
long  in  fame']  ;  it  must  likewise  be  assumed  in  the  old  dative 
ending  in  e,  as  in  aere  for  aeri,  in  jure  for  juri,  etc.  This 
intermediate  sound  of  e  was  sometimes  spelled  in  inscriptions 
with  e  and  sometimes  with  i;  thus  we  find  dedit  and  dedet, 
fecit  and  fecet,  and  also  salutes  for  salutis,  Caesares  for 
Caesaris.  In  olden  times,  and,  as  it  seems  among  the  rustic 
population  always,  it  was  pronounced  when  short  more  like  e 
in  let  i  but  during  the  flower  of  the  Roman  literature,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  educated,  it  had  the  proper  sound  of  i  in  machine 
(I.,  142)  ;  and  in  the  later  Roman  vulgar  tongue  again,  it 
was  sounded  partly  a  full  e  (in  let),  and  as  such  passed  over 
into  the  Italian  language,  where  it  is  still  pronounced  like  the 
English  e  in  let,  or  rather  when  long  like  a  in  late,  (L,  207- 
230). 

The  letter  e,  as.  we  have  seen  in  our  article  on  a,  has  also 
been  weakened  from  a  in  unaccented  syllables,  closing  with  one 
or  several  consonants,  and  also  in  words  like  the  following, 
viz.,  septem,  Gr.  exta  for  t^ra^,  Sanscr.  saptan ;  novem, 
Sanscr.  navan ;  decem,  Gr.  Sexa,  for  5c'*a/t  Sanscr.  dagan  ; 
career,  Gr.  xapscapo* ;  farferus  and  farfarus. 

E  has  been  weakened  from  o  in  vellere  for  vollere,  am- 
plecti  for  amplocti,  vester  for  vaster  [this  o  remained  in  the 
popular  pronunciation,  as  we  can  see  from  the  Italian  vostro^, 
veto  for  voto,  velim  for  volim,  verro  for  vorro,  verto  for 


74  VOWELS. 

vorto  [the  o  remains  here  in  vortex  for  vertex"],  etc. ;  also  in 
the  vocative  of  the  o-declension,  as  in  eque  for  equo,  lupe 
KVXS  for  lupo,  xvxo,  and,  moreover,  in  the  reduplication,  e.  g. 
peposci  for  poposci,  spespondi  for  spopondi,  memordi  for 
momordi. 

E  has  been  weakened  from  long  u  in  pejero  for  perjuro, 
dejero  for  dejuro,  and  from  a  short  ii  in  cecurri  for  cucurri, 
pepugi  for  pupugi,  and  tetuli  for  tutuli. 

E  long  very  seldom  changes  into  any  other  sound ;  how- 
ever it  changes  into  i  in  subtilis  from  teZa. 

j£  long  is  shortened,  when  followed  by  a  vowel  or  h,  in 
deorsum,  seorsum,  dehinc,  dehisco,  dcosculatus,  (II.  157) ; 
it  is  shortened  by  shifting  the  accent  on  the  antepenult,  e.  g. 
platZa  from  *&a*£*a,  chorea  from  ^op^'a,  balineum  from 
ov,  gynaeceum  from 


I. 

The  vowel  I,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  is  produced  by 
drawing  the  posterior  part  of  the  tongue  so  closely  up  to  the 
palate,  that  only  a  very  narrow  aperture  is  left  for  the  air  to 
pass  through,  when  ejected  from  the  wind-pipe.  As  the 
tongue  serves  a  very  important  part,  in  the  pronunciation  of 
the  vowel  i,  by  pressing  against  the  palate,  this  vowel,  by  its 
very  nature,  is  most  intimately  related  to  the  linguals  or 
dentals  among  the  consonants. 

Whenever  the  short  sound  of  i  is  found  in  the  written 
language  of  the  best  ages,  it  appears  to  have  had  the  proper 
slender  sound  of  i  in  is,  this,  etc.,  even  in  the  language  of 
the  educated,  which  is  expressly  stated  by  Lucilius  (15u  years 
before  Christ)  in  Ter.  Scaur.,  p.  2255,  with  regard  to  pila 
(ball),  and  by  Yelius  Long.  (p.  2216),  with  regard  to 
prodit,  vincit,  condit ;  nor  do  the  grammarians  anywhere 
mention  a  broader  sound  of  short  t,  inclining  to  e  (I.,  142). 


VOWELS.  75 

In  the  popular  language,  however,. both  of  the  older  and  the 
most  modern  times,  it  sounded  more  like  e  in  let  or  ay  in  bay. 
We  cannot  understand  why  Mr.  Corssen  excepts  here  the 
vulgar  tongue,  existing  between  these  older  and  most  modern 
times,  and  makes  a  later  tongue  return  to  the  pronunciation, 
prevailing  at  an  early  period ;  yet  such  is  evidently  his 
opinion.  In  the  Oscan  language  there  was  a  short  sound  of 
i,  inclining  to  e,  which,  in  its  own  alphabet,  was  represented 
by  a  peculiar  sign,  viz. ,  h ,  see  Corssen,  ib.  [cfr.  Mommsen 
Unterital.  Dialecte,  table  YL,  and  Aufrecht's  and  KirchhofTs, 
Umbr.  Sprachdenkm.,  L,  22,  note.] 

Lucilius  distinguished  a  slender  long  i  (tenue,  exile,  in 
machine),  which  he  wished  to  represent  by  7,  and  a  fuller, 
broader  T  (pinyue,  plenum),  more  like  e  (in  bed),  or  ei  in 
deign),  for  which  he  recommended  the  spelling  EI,  Yel. 
Long.,  p.  2220. 

4  Hoc  illi  factum  est  uni:'  tenue  hoc  fades  L 

'  Haec  illifecere:'  adde  E,  ut  pinguius  fiat.  Corssen, 
L,  142. 

The  mark  I  Lucilius  intended  for  the  singular  cases  of 
o-stems,  thus  for  genitives  like  pupilli,  pueri,  Caeli,  Numeri, 
Lucili,  and  the  datives  illi,  uni,  toti.  For  the  plural  forms 
of  these  stems  he  recommended  El,  as  puerei,  pupillei,  illei, 
and  Yarro  agrees  with  him  in  thus  distinguishing  the  singular 
and  plural  forms,  Ter.  Scaur.  2255.  In  the  dative-singular  of 
the  consonantal  (third)  declension,  he  again  proposes  to  write 
El,  e.  g.  furei,  mendacei,  but  is  opposed  by  Yarro,  who 
calls  this  inconsistent,  and  is  only  willing  to  use  El  for  plural 
forms.  This  rule  of  Lucilius,  however,  was  never  generally 
adopted,  and  in  the  inscriptions  the  two  forms  /and  El  are 
used  indiscriminately,  so  that  Quintilian  and  other  gram- 
marians abandoned  it  as  impracticable.  Mr.  Corssen  here 
continues,  that  if,  according  to  Lucilius'  statement,  pllum  (a 
pestle)  was  pronounced  with  a  slender  i,  and  mei7e,  meilia,- 
meiles,  meilitia,  peila  (darts)  with  a  broad  i,  we  must  be- 
lieve him,  that,  at  his  time,  some  words  were  pronounced  with 


76  VOWELS. 

an  acute  and  slender  I,  and  others  with  an  I  inclining  to  e, 
which  now  can  no  longer  be  distinguished. 

In  the  Latin  language  there  was  also  an  intermediate  sound 
between  a  short  i  and  a  short  u  [French  u  ?],  concerning 
which,  Quintilian  says  as  follows,  '  Medius  est  quidam  inter 
i  et  u  sonus  ;J  Mar.  Yict.,  '  Pinguius  quam  i,  exilius 
quam  u  ;  J  Yel.  Long.,  '  /  scribitur  et  paene  u  enuntiatur  ;' 
Prise.,  '  Sonum  y  Graecae  videtur  habere."  According  to 
the  grammarians,  this  sound  is  heard  in  the  following  words, 
viz.,  Acerrumus,  alumenta,  artubus,  aucupare,  aucupium, 
aurufex,  contumax,  contumelia,  existumat,  extumus,intubust 
intumu8,justissumus,  lacrumaejubido,  manubiae,  manubus, 
niancupium,  manupretium,  maxumus,  minumus,  monu- 
•mentum,  nolumus,  optumus,  possumus,  pulcherrumus, 
sumus,  volumus.  According  to  Priscian  it  was  moreover 
heard  after  v,  in  the  following  words,  viz.,  video,  vim,  virtus, 
vitium,  vix ;  still,  these  last  words  are  never  found  spelled 
with  u,  as  two  v's  (vv)  were  generally  avoided  at  the  time  of 
Augustus.  "  This  intermediate  sound,  then,"  Mr.  Corssen 
concludes,  "  is  mostly  found  before  labials."  In  the  inscrip- 
tions, dating  from  the  oldest  times  to  the  war  with  the  Cimbri 
(I.,  144),  these  words  were  usually  written  with  u,  and  only 
rarely  with  i  ;  hence  the  sound,  thus  represented,  must  have 
been  identical  with,  or  at  least  very  similiar  to  that  of  u. 
The  u  which  in  the  manuscripts  of  Plautus  is  invariably  used 
instead  of  i,  must  therefore  be  regarded  as  a  relic  of  olden 
times,  as  decumus,  vicensumus,  centensumus,  legitumus, 
victuma,  aestumo,  carnufex,  manufestus,  pacuficari,  etc., 
I.,  145.  According  to  the  inscriptions  from  the  times  of 
Cicero,  CaBsar  and  Augustus,  cited  by  Mr.  Corssen  (I.,  145- 
14T,)  the  sound  in  question  seems,  at  that  time,  to  have  in- 
clined more  to  i,  in  the  mouth  of  the  people,  and  Caesar  and 
Cicero  wrote  i,  while  Augustus  retained  u.  Corn.  ap.  Cassiod., 
1  Terentius  Varro  tradidit  Caesar  em  per  i  ejusmodi  verba 
solitumesse  enuntiare  et  scribere.1  Yel.  Longus,  '  Optumus, 
maxumus,  in  quibus  annotandum,  antiquum  sermonem 


VOWELS.  77 

plenioris  soni  fuisse,  et  ut  ait  Cicero,  rushcanum.'  Ac- 
cording to  Cicero's  judgment,  the  sound  u  had,  therefore, 
become  obsolete  in  the  mouth  of  the  educated,  but  still  con- 
tinued in  popular  pronunciation.  Augustus,  contrary  to 
Cicero  and  Caesar,  is  said  to  have  begun  again  to  spell  it 
with  if ;  still,  both  he  and  his  courtiers  are  said  to  have  spoken 
simus  for  sumus,  Suet.  Aug.  c.  87.  Mr.  Corssen  here  con- 
tinues, as  the  nobility  and  the  other  authorities  were  thus  di- 
vided at  the  time  of  Augustus,  we  need  not  wonder  at  finding 
in  the  Yirgil  manuscripts,  maxumus,  optumus,  ultumus, 
pessumus,  pluruma,  intuma,  tegumen,  (I,  146).  At  all 
events,  the  Emperor  Claudius  still  found  this  intermediate 
sound,  when  he  ordered  the  introduction  of  a  new  letter  for  it, 
viz.,  h  .  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  this  new  character 
is  almost  exclusively  found  in  the  inscriptions  in  the  place  of 
the  Greek  y,  viz.,  in  Aeg\-  pti  for  Aegypti,  c  h  onus  for 
cycnus,  cr\-  \_pta]  for  crypta,  Bath\-  llus  for  Bathyllus, 
m  h  ro  for  myro,  [c]/?rh  sao[n~\  for  chrysaon ;  once  it  is 
found  in  the  place  of  a  Greek  tin  61-  b[liotheca'],  and  once 
only  in  a  Latin  word  g\r  bernator,  on  acccount  of  its  relation- 
ship to  the  Greek  xvpspvytys,  cf.  Buecheler  Claud.  Gramra.,  p. 
18.  That  this  intermediate  sound  continued  even  to  the 
latest  times,  and  was  never  completely  superseded  by  i,  is 
shown  by  the  inscriptions  from  the  latest  times  of  the  empire. 
In  the  Italian  language  it  has  almost  universally  yielded  to 
i,  as  in  ottimo,  massimo,  prossimo,  intimo,  libidine,  etc.  ; 
but  it  has  still  been  preserved  in  documento  and  monumento, 
(I.,  147,  148).  To  this  we  would  add,  that  the  question 
whether  this  sound  still  continued  in  the  first  period  of  the 
Italian  language,  cannot  be  decided,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be 
necessary  first  to  examine  the  oldest  manuscripts  and  editions, 
the  orthography  of  which  has  been  repeatedly  changed  and 
improved  by  the  later  editors. 

While  the  long  I  inclining  to  e  in  let,  which  was  for  a  long 
time  expressed  by  ei,  frequently  arose  from  the  diphthongs  ai, 


78  VOWELS. 

oi,  ei,  (see  these  articles,)  the  short  i  seems  to  have  proceeded 
from  a,  o,  u  and  e. 

The  consonants,  which  manifest  a  remarkable  affinity  for 
the  vowel  i,  are  the  liquid  n,  the  dentals  t  and  d,  and  the 
sibilant  s.  The  suffix  no,  na  can  be  preceded  by  any  long 
vowel,  but  all  short  vowels  it  weakens  into  i ;  it  also  develops 
into  a  full  i  the  vowel-like  admixture  of  n  in  formations,  as 
8v,  pi>,  xv,  %v,  <?V)  which  were  abhorrent  [to  the  Roman  mouth 
and  ears.]  Thus  we  find  balineum  for  j3axcu/£tov,  bucina  for 
pvxdvy,  Catina  (Gatana)  for  Karava,  machina  for/t^^a^,  pa- 
tina for  rfafaw?,  runcina  for  /Wa»^,  trutina  for  ^pura*^,  also 
crocinus,  cedrinus, tartar inus,  dominus,  duracinus,  sarcina, 
lamina,  crastinus,  cardinis,  from  cardo[n],  Minerva  for 
ancient  Menerva,  in  for  en,  ^ncfit  for  ancient  endo,  minus  for 
menus,  sinu  for  senu ;  mina  for  ju/a,  gyminasium  and  #2/m- 
nasium,  Procine  and  Procne,  Ariadine  and  Ariadne;  see 
many  other  examples,  I.,  283-285. 

A  similar  predilection  for  the  vowel  £  is  manifested  by  the 
sibilant  s,  (L,  286.)  We  have  seen  in  our  article  on  a,  how 
o  and  u  are  produced  from  the  vowel  a,  and  as  an  addi- 
tional proof  we  may  here  adduce  the  change  of  the  old  geni- 
tive ending  os  through  us  into  is,  e.  g.  senatuos,  senatuus, 
senatuis,  contracted  into  senates;  magistratuos,  magistratuis, 
magistrates;  also  (Castoros,)  Castorus,  Castoris ;  (Vene- 
ros,')  Venerus,  Veneris  (I.,  286).  The  affinity  of  s  for  i,  is 
also  shown  in  the  late  Latin  vulgar  tongue,  where  the  ending 
es  of  the  nominative  singular  is  changed  into  is,  e.  g.  cautis 
for  cautest  vatis  for  vates,  subolis  for  suboles,  cladis  for 
clades,  famis  for  fames,  alis  for  ales,  vulpis  for  vulpes, 
plebis  for  plebes,  obsis  for  obses,  apis  for  apes,  nubis  for 
nubes,  etc,,  (I.,  287  ;)  and  also  by  the  transition  of  ius  into 
is,  thus  magis  for  magius,  aliquantisper  for  aliquantiusper, 
satis  for  satius,  paullisper  for  paulliusper,  potis  for  potius, 
pauxillisper  for  pauxilliusper,  nimis  for  nimius,  tantisper 
for  tantiusper,  ultis  for  ultius,  magister  for  magiuster,  minis- 
ter, sinister,  pris-cus  for  prius-cus,  sollistimum  for  sollius- 


VOWELS.  79 

timum,  sinistimum  and  of  a  into  i  in  canistrum  from  xdvaa- 
fpoi/,  comissor  from  xo^afw,  lepista  from  xsrfacrr^,  Masinissa, 

for  Macrcu-acrctt^. 

Mr.  Corssen  says  that  the  sibilant  and  lingual  (or  dental) 
s  is  very  closely  related  to  the  lingual  vowel  i,  as  regards  the 
position  of  the  organs  of  speech  in  its  pronunciation.  This 
furnishes  a  striking  proof  that  the  letter  s,  when  pronounced, 
was  preceded  by  a  slight  vowel-sound,  resembling  i.  Hence, 
as  early  as  the  fourth  century,  we  find  in  the  inscriptions 
istatuam  for  statuam,  Ispartacus  for  Spartacus,  Istaverius 
for  Staverius,  ispirito  for  spirito,  and  in  manuscripts  isce- 
vas  for  scevas,  istruis  for  struis,  istares  for  stares,  Isticho  for 
Sticho,  Istasime  for  Stasime. 

From  the  fact,  that  in  the  late  Latin  inscriptions,  anno, 
annus,  annis,  anni  are  found,  instead  of  annos,  and  se  vivi, 
se  vivos,  instead  of  se  vims,  Mr.  Corssen  concludes  that  the 
people  were  no  longer  conscious  of  the  distinction  between 
the  different  cases  of  vivis,  vivi,  vivos,  that  in  the  dative  and 
ablative  plural  the  letter  s  had  already  been  dropped  in  the 
pronunciation,  and  that  the  accusative  plural  had  dropped  its 
s,  and  weakened  its  o  into  i.  The  same,  he  says,  is  affirmed  by 
the  passage  in  suis  instead  of  in  suos,  and  natus  instead  of 
natis,  which  mistakes  could  not  possibly  have  happened, 
unless  os,  us,  is,  had  then  already  sounded  alike  in  popular 
pronunciation,  that  is,  unless  instead  of  their  own  original 
sounds  the  plural  i  of  the  Italians  had  already  been  heard. — 
[In  this  we  can  only  partly  agree  with  Mr.  Corssen,  for,  as 
regards  the  word  annis,  it  was  well-known  to  the  stone- 
cutters, from  ancient  inscriptions,  and  was  used  by  them,  long 
after  the  ablative  and  dative  had  disappeared  from  common 
nsage  ;  hence  we  need  not  wonder  that  they  should  sometimes 
have  used  it  for  annos  ;  the  same  we  hold  to  be  the  case  with 
in  suis  From  the  above  passages  we  rather  deem  ourselves 
justified  to  conclude,  that  at  this  time,  already  the  accusative 
was  the  universal  case  (thus  natus  above  was  not  intended  for 
natis  but  for  natos ;)  and  as  regards  the  forms  annus  and 


SO  VOWELS. 

natus  for  annos  and  natos,  they  indicate  to  us  that  the  sound 
of  o  in  os  had  already  become  obscure,  previous  to  its  entire 
evanescence  before  the  following  s,  when  this  was  changed 
into  i,  (for  Mr.  Corssen  must  recollect  that  under  some  cir- 
cumstances the  sibilant  s  passes  off  into  i  ;)  in  this  manner 
we  explain  the  form  anni  instead  of  annos.  In  the  Italian, 
however,  we  not  only  find  the  obscure  o  elided,  under 
these  circumstances,  but  also  the  vowel  e ;  for  it  is  a  well- 
known  fact,  that  in  this  language  the  letter  s  passes  into  i9 
not  only  in  the  second  or  o-declension,  but  also  in  the  third 
or  consonant  declension,  nay  even  in  the  verb.  In  this  latter 
case,  i.  e.,  in  the  verb,  whenever  the  letter  s  was  changed 
into  i,  and  formed  a  diphthong  with  the  preceding  vowel,  this 
vowel,  in  words,  consisting  of  several  syllables,  was  always 
absorbed  by  the  following  i,  while  m  which  passed  over  into 
the  kindred  sound  of  u,  with  the  preceding  vowel  was  blended 
into  a  new  single  vowel,  as  in  amabam,  amavam,  amavau, 
Old-Ital.,  amavo ;  second  pers.  sing,  amabas,  amavas,  ama- 
vai,  amavi;  amas  (thou  lovest)  is  changed  into  amai,  ami; 
patres,  patrei,  patri ;  matres,  matrei,  matri ;  but  in  mono- 
syllables the  diphthongs,  thus  formed,  are  not  contracted,  as  in 
sex,  ses,  sei;  vas,  vai  ;  fas,  fai,  etc.  In  Greek,  likewise,  we 
meet  with  the  change  of  s  into  i;  as  in  hpi,  st/u,  io^iv  tlplv, 
and  perhaps  we  can  trace  it  in  the  Latin  itself.  We  never  felt 
fully  satisfied  with  the  usual  explanation  of  the  second  person 
plural  of  deponent  and  passive  verbs  (imini.)  While  all  the 
other  persons  were  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  affixing  of 
the  reflexive  pronoun,  we  were  taught  that  the  second  person 
plural  alone  makes  an  exception  to  this  general  rule,  and  that, 
in  order  to  explain  its  origin,  we  must  assume  separate  parti- 
ciples for  each  of  the  tenses  of  the  three  moods  in  which  it 
occurs,  thus  legiminus  for  legimini,  legaminus  for  legamini, 
legebaminus  for  legebamini,  legereminus  for  legerimini, 
legeminus  for  legemini,  and  legiminus  for  legiminor,  etc., 
which  is  simply  absurd.  In  explaining  this  form,  we  again 
start  with  the  imperative  mood,  as  in  all  cases,  which  accord- 


VOWELS  81 

ing  to  our  idea,  is  the  form  next  produced  after  the  aorist ; 
legiminor  stands  for  legiminos,  so  that  in  this  ending,  too,  we 
have  os  instead  of  so  or  ro  ;  imin  we  hold  to  be  the  old  word 
yusman  (you)  accusative  case,  which  still  exists  in  the  San- 
scrit ;  or  or  os  means  selves  ;  thus  i>/ia$  for  fyta^,  (a  is  changed 
into  i  before  n,  v  into  i,)  together  with  or  forms  legiminor, 
read  yourselves,  v/taj  avt-sj, which  is  even  more  used  in  this 
connexion,  than  savtus.  This  final  os  became  oi,  ei,  i  in  the 
present,  and  thus  in  all  other  tenses.  Of.  Benfey,  Sanscr. 
Grammar,  p.  124;  Bopp,  Vergleich.  Gr.  II.,  123.  We  deem 
ourselves  just  as  much  at  liberty,  in  elaborating  this  present 
theory,  to  dive  into  ante-historical  ages,  as  the  originator  of 
the  former  one.^ 

There  also  exists  an  affinity  between  the  linguals  or  dentals 
d  and  t,  and  the  vowel  i,  but  this  did  not  manifest  itself  so 
decidedly  in  the  oldest  times,  as  we  frequently  find  e  in  ante- 
Augustan  inscriptions,  where  afterwards  we  find  i,  e.-g.  mereto 
and  meretod  for  merito,  apparetoris  for  apparitoris,  habeta- 
batur  for  habitabatur,  inter cedeto  for  interceded  (I,  290). 
According  to  Mr.  Corssen,  the  characteristic  vowel  a  of  the 
a-conjugation,  and  the  vowel  e  of  the  e-conjugation  are 
frequently  not  only  shortened  into  e,  but  by  the  influence  of 
the  following  t,  also  changed  into  i,  e.  g.  habitum,  habitus 
for  habetum,  habitus  ;  exercitum,  exercitus,  exercitium  for 
exercetum,  exercetus,  exercetium,  etc.  (I,  291). 

I  also  appears  instead  of  e  before  d,  in  the  adjectives  which 
are  derived  from  verbs  of  the  e-conjugation,  and  from  nouns 
of  the  a  and  u-declension,  while  in  the  popular  pronunciation 
the  letter  e  seems  to  have  remained,  e.  g.  in  pavidus  from 
paveo,  albidus  from  albeo,  viridis  for  viridus  from  vireo, 
frigidus  from  frigeo,  herbidus  from  herba,  gelidus  from 
gelu,  etc.  (L,  292).  On  the  other  hand,  we  find  soledus  for 
solidus  in  an  inscription,  dating  from  the  time  of  the  Gracchi, 
and  in  the  provincial  Latin,  at  the  time  of  the  empire,  we  fine" 
Caledius,  Muredius,  Veibedius,  Calvedius,  Sultedius,  Vet- 
tedius.  Still  more,  we  not  only  find  it  before  d,  but  likewise, 


82  VOWELS. 

before  other  consonants,  as  in  menus  for  minus,  menester 
for  minister,  fescu  for  fiscu,  senu  for  sinu,  dulcessima  for 
dulcissima,  lecuerunt  for  licuerunt,  oreginem  for  oriyinem, 
etc. ;  while  in  the  provincial  Latin  of  Southern  Italy,  i  is 
found,  where  in  the  cultivated  Roman  e  is  retained,  e.  g.  rim 
for  rem,  ist  for  est,  dibito  for  debito,  sedito  for  sedeto,  fru- 
minto  for  frumento,  sinatum  for  senatum,  cinsum  for 
censum,  cinsuerint  for  censuerint,  habibit  for  habebit, 
venirandae  for  venerandae,  ditulit  for  detulit,  cinerim  for 
cinerem,  sicundo  for  secundo  (L,  297).  Traces  of  this  more 
modern  t  are  also  found  in  the  later  vulgar  tongue,  outside 
of  Southern  Italy,  as  in  rinovato  for  renovato,  dipositus  for 
depositus. 

Mr.  Corssen  is  perfectly  right  in  citing  both  long  and  short 
vowels,  to  which  prosody,  at  one  time,  attributes  one,  and,  at 
another,  two  lengths ;  and,  also,  in  declaring,  that  in  a  living 
language  Jihere  are  sounds,  which  cannot  be  strictly  said, 
either  to  possess  one,  or  two  lengths,  and  which,  when  mea- 
sured by  this  scale,  are  found  to  be  either  a  fraction  too  long 
or  too  short,  just  as  in  music,  where  besides  the  regular  whole, 
half,  quarter,  eighth  and  sixteenth  notes,  there  are  also  other 
intermediate  ones  between  each  of  these,  which  cannot  be 
absolutely  measured,  that  is,  which  are  irrational.  He, 
moreover,  says  that  before  a  long  vowel,  measuring  two 
lengths,  is  completely  reduced  to  a  short  vowel,  measuring 
one,  it  first  passes  through  an  intermediate  state  in  which  it 
is  neither  long  nor  short;  and,  that  before  a  short  vowel, 
which  measures  one  length,  is  rendered  perfectly  inaudible,  it 
first  shrivels  up  into  a  fraction  of  a  length,  and  often  con- 
tinues for  a  long  time  in  this  crippled  state,  before  it  finally 
expires.  These  fragments  of  vowels  he  compares  with  the 
Shevas  in  the  Semitic  languages,  which  present  a  great  variety 
of  shades,  as  regards  their  pronunciation.  This  comparison 
we  find  excellent,  but  we  believe  that  the  Sheva  is  not  always 
the  fragment  of  a  vowel,  but  in  many  cases,  both  in  nouns 
and  in  verbs,  the  embryo  from  which  in  the  originally  mono- 


VOWELS.  83 

syllabic  words  of  the  Semitic  languages,  in  the  course  of 
time,  a  full  vowel  was  developed,  forming  a  new  syllable, 
e.  g.  (he  reigned)  Aram,  m'lakh,  Hebr.  malakh,  Arab. 
malakha ;  (king)  Syr.  and  Chald.  m'lakh,  Hebr.  melekh, 
Arabic  malkhon,  malikhon. 


0. 

In  the  pronunciation  of  the  vowel  o  the  lips  are  contracted 
into  somewhat  of  a  circular  form,  and  the  anterior  part  of  the 
tongue  is  depressed,  so  that  the  breath,  ejected  from  the 
wind-pipe,  resounds  through  the  round  cavity  of  the  mouth  ; 
1  cavo  ore '  as  Quintilian  has  it.  As  a  general  thing  the 
vowel  o  was  pronounced,  as  in  all  other  cognate  tongues.  / 
Only  the  o  contracted  from  au,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen, 
sounded  less  clear,  but  more  full  than  the  ordinary  o  in  poto, 
dono,  honore.  The  Romans,  like  the  Oscans,  did  not  dis- 
tinguish the  long  and  short  o  in  writing ;  but  their  quantity 
was  sometimes  indicated  by  the  apex  (I.,  9--11). 

The  short  o,  as  can  be  proved,  in  most  cases  arose  from  an 
original  a,  and  it  manifests,  especially,  a  great  attraction  for 
v  and  u,  before  and  after  which  letters  it  even  remained  in 
after-times,  when  it  ordinarily  passed  off  into  u,  i  or  e,  (I., 
233-235).  Compare  the  following  scheme. — 
Lat.  pars,  Lat.  portio,  Lat.  impertio, 

Sanscr.  aw,  "     ovi,  [Engl.    ewe,'] 

"        navas,          "     novus,  Gr.  v«F°s,  Germ,  neu, 

[Engl.  new~\. 

"         6attvdrast     "     quatuor,  Gr. 

"         vaeas,  "     vox,  " 

"         vat, —          "     voc-o,  " 

11        vam —         "    vom-o,  " 

Lat.        vacuus,        "    vocuus,  vocivus,  vocatio, 
Sanscr.  baranti,       "   veivont,vivunt*  [Span,  viven,'] 

*  "  Carmen  Saliare,"  tremonti  [Gr.  fpefiorn,  rp^ww»Jfor  tremunt. 


84  VOWELS. 

Lat.  vaster,  Lat.  vester, 

"     vorto,  "      verto, 

"     voto,  "      veto, 

Sanscr.  pad,  Gr.  *o$,  Lat.  compos,  compes, 

[Engl.   sang  past,  Engl.  song,    sung,      Engl.     sing,     present 
primitive  form,   first  derivative,  second    derivative], 

Sanscr.  ganitar,      Gr.     y<Ws,  Lat.  genitor,  yevsf^. 

0  was  weakened  into  u  and  i,  as  in  senatu-os  [senatu-us~]* 
senatu-is,  senatus ;  domu-os,  domu-us,  domu-is,  domus  ; 
magistratu-os — uus, — uis,  us;  \_Castor-os~],  Castor  us,  Cas- 
toris  ;  [nomin-os],  nomin-us,  nomin-is.  Also  in  part-is  for 
part-us,  Vener-is  for  Vener-us,  Cerer-is  for  Cerer-us,  honor- 
is for  honor-us,  in  all  of  which  cases,  by  analogy  with  the 
above  examples,  we  are  led  to  assume  an  original  suffix  [as]  os. 
The  vowel  o,  also,  in  the  classical  Latin,  has  been  weakened  into 
u  in  the  termination  us  of  the  nom.  sing.,  and  twiof  the  noin. 
and  accus.  sing.,  and  genit.  plur.  ;  for,  in  all  inscriptions,  be- 
fore the  time  of  Augustus,  and,  especially,  after  the  letters  v 
and  u,  we  find  o  instead  of  u,  in  these  cases,  e.  g.,  donomfor  do- 
num,  pocolom  for  poculum,  sacrom  for  sacrum,  poublicom 
for  publicum,  locom  for  locum,  Vulcanom  for  Vulcanum, 
captom  for  captum,  olorom  for  olorum.  We  also  find  filios 
for  filius,  mortuos  for  mortuus,  servos  for  servus,  vivos  for 
vivus,  obavos  for  abavus,  etc.  (I.,  244,  245). 

The  pronunciation  of  o,  in  these  suffixes,  according  to  our 
theory,  gave  way  to  that  of  u,  in  the  mouth  of  the  towns- 
men and  the  educated  people  in  general,  during  the  classical 
period  of  the  Roman  language,  but  was  preserved,  during  the 
whole  of  this  time,  among  the  rustic  and  the  lower  people, 
and,  in  the  course  of  time,  became  again  universally  dominant 
in  the  Italian  language,  with  the  exception  of  the  island  of 
Sardinia,  where  we  are  told,  the  obscure  sound  of  u  still  pre- 
vails, both  in  writing  and  in  pronunciation.  This  is  our 

*  Thus  we  find  conventu-us,  cxercit;-us,  (II.,  143). 


VOWELS*  85 

opinion  on  the  subject ;  and  we  do  not  consider  Mr.  Corssen 
justified  in  maintaining  (I.,  245,  246),  that  the  popular  pro- 
nunciation, at  a  later  period,  again  returned  to  that,  which 
was  in  use  in  olden  times.  Mr.  Corssen  himself  furnishes  some 
proofs  for  our  assertion,  Yol.  I.,  p.  256,  ff,  where  he  says, 
that,  in  olden  times,  this  same  [obscure]  sound  was  generally 
pronounced  like  o,  that,  at  the  time  of  Accius  and  Lucilius, 
it  seems  to  have  been  an  intermediate  sound  between  o  and 
u,  inasmuch  as  we  observe  a  vacillation  in  its  spelling  [in  the 
inscriptions],  and,  that  in  the  latest  times  of  the  republic, 
in  the  mouth  of  the  educated,  it  received  the  full  sound  of  u, 
while  the  sound  of  o  had  not  yet  entirely  vanished  in  the 
popular  pronunciation. 

When  o  was  preceded  by  v,  it  maintained  itself  as  late  as 
the  time  of  Quintilian  (I.,  260),  e.  g.  in  volt  for  vult,  voltis 
for  vultis,  voltus  for  vultus,  volgus  for  vulgus,  volgivaga 
for  vulgivaga,  volpes  for  vulpes,  Volcanus  for  Vulcanus, 
volnus  for  vulnus,  avolsa  for  avulsa,  divolsa  for  divulsa  (I., 
260), 

When  preceded  by  i  or  e,  the  letter  o  is  prevented  from 
becoming  u,  even  before  I  (I.,  256),  e.  g.  sciolus,  viola, 
luteola,  lineola,  alveolus,  etc.  ;  while  we  find  vinolentus, 
sanguinolentus,  somnolentus,  obolus,  together  with  vinulus, 
spicula,  spinula,  etc.,  (I.,  257).  In  the  later  vulgar  tongue, 
we  again  find  facoletatem  for  facultatem,  tomolo  for  tumulo, 
famolus  for  famulus,  console  for  consule,  tetolum  and  tetolo 
for  titulum,  vocabolom  for  vocabulum,  etc.,  (ib.). 

0  arose  by  assimilation,  in  words  like  soboles  for  suboles, 
socordia  for  secordia  (I.,  306). 

0,  originally  long,  was  shortened  in  nominative  endings  in 
tor,  sor,  and  or  in  general,  as  in  stultior,  auctior,  longior, 
and  also  in  verbs,  as  in  fateor,  miror,  etc.  ;  likewise,  in  the 
ending  ol  in  consol  (I.,  363-366).  It  was,  moreover,  shortened 
in  ablative  adverbs  (I.,  342),  as  in  cito,  profecto,  porro,  sero, 
postremo,  immo,  illico,  modo ;  also  in  the  ablative  of  the 
gerund,  as  in  mulcendo,  manando,  vincendo,  etc.,  (ib.),  and 


86  VOWELS. 

in  the  duals  ambo  and  duo,  and  the  numeral  octo  (Gr  6xtu>), 
contracted  from  au,  compare  octauus. 

The  o  long  of  the  original  suffix  on  was  shortened,  as  in 
homo,  but  it  generally  remained  long,  until  after  the  time  of 
Augustus  (I.,  343,  344)  ;  still,  by  the  arsis  it  can  be  made 
long  again.  The  same,  also,  applies  to  the  ending  o  in  the 
first  person  sing,  of  verbs,  e.  g.  in  eo,  ago,  void,  scio,  sino, 
nego,  dabo,  ero,  etc.,  (I.,  345-347),  and  to  the  ending  o  of 
the  imperative  mood,  e.  g.,  ddto,  esto,  respondeto,  (I.,  347). 

The  vowel  o,  is  dropped  in  the  formation  of  feminines,  as 
in  actrix,  (actorix,  acterix,^)  from  actor,  accusatrix,  (accu- 
satorix,  accusaterix,*)  from  accusator,  genitrix  from  genitor. 
Mr.  Corssen  says  (II. ,  4),  that  after  the  suffix  ic,  was  added 
to  the  masculine  victor,  etc.,  the  vowel  o,  in  the  penult  was 
shortened,  because  an  unaccented  penult  cannot  continue 
long,  when  the  stress  or  ictus  is  on  the  antepenult.  Subse- 
quently, the  letter  o  in  victorix  was  elided,  after  it  had  very 
likely  been  first  reduced  into  e,  as  in  temperi,  pigneri,  instead 
of  tempori,  pignori,  etc.  It  was  dropped  in  a  similar  manner 
in  textrina,  tonstrina,  pistrina,  latrina,  where  the  suffix  tor 
denotes  the  acting  person,  and  the  suffix  ina  the  place  where 
this  person  generally  performs  his  actions ;  it  was  likewise 
dropped  in  comix  from  xopwi/^,  and  in  neptis  and  proneplis, 
from  nepos,  after  this  had  first  been  changed  into  nepotis, 
pronepotis,  and  afterwards  into  nepUis  and  pronepitis. 

The  vowel  o  is  rejected  at  the  end  of  words,  e.  g.  in  ab 
from  drfo,  sub  from  vn6,  (II.,  56)  ;  at  the  end  of  unaccented 
syllables,  as  in  mdlo  for  mauolo,  Ma-rs  from  Ma-vors,  sur- 
sum  for  suvorsum,  (II. ,  133);  further  at  the  end  of  the 
first  member  of  compounds,  e.  g.  in  rem[o~\igium,  un[o~\ocu- 
lus,  (II.,  134).  The  first  letter  of  the  second  member  of 
compounds  disappears  before  o,  as  in  colescat  for  coalescat, 
colescere  for  coalescere,  coluerunt  for  coaluerunt,  and 
coctus  for  coactus,  (II. ,  134,  135).  Mr.  Qorssen  says,  (II., 
147),  that  more  rarely  one  of  the  two  unaccented  vowels  of 
the  two  last  syllables  in  a  word  is  elided,  of  which  both  belong 


VOWELS.  87 

to  the  suffix,  appended  to  the  stem,  as  ali-s  for  ali-os,  ali-d 
for  ali-od.  The  same  also  sometimes  happens  before  the  s  of 
the  nominative  case  in  the  provincial  Latin,  as  well  as  in  the 
Oscan  and  Umbrian,  e.  g. 

Prov.  Lat.  Bruti-s      Osc.  Heirenni-s     Umbr.    Trutiti-s 
"       Niumsi-s          "          Koisi-s 


U. 


In  the  pronunciation  of  te,  the  organs  of  speech  occupy  the 
same  position  as  in  the  pronunciation  of  o,  with  this  excep- 
tion that  the  lips  are  not  only  contracted,  but  also  protrude, so 
that  the  entrance  into  the  cavity  of  the  mouth  is  narrowed, 
by  this  means,  and  the  sound  of  u  produced. 

Inasmuch  as  in  the  pronunciation  of  u  the  lips  are  princi- 
pally active,  this  vowel  has  a  decided  affinity  for  the  labials, 
and  Mr.  Corssen  (I.,  149)  hence  calls  it  the  labial  vowel,  i 
the  lingual,  a  the  guttural,  and  e  an  intermediate  vowel 
between  the  guttural  a  and  lingual  i,  and  o  between  the  gut- 
tural a  and  labial  u.  We  have  no  objection  to  Mr.  Corssen 's 
calling  i  a  lingual  or  dental  vowel,  and  u  a  labial,  for  in  the 
former  the  tongue  is  prominently  active,  and  in  the  latter  the 
lips  appear  to  be  so,  although  in  reality  the  vowel  u  is  formed 
far  down  in  the  throat,  and,  with  some  practice,  can  be  pro- 
nounced there,  with  the  mouth  wide  open.  The  history  of  the 
Latin  language,  also,  furnishes  us  with  clear  instances,  where 
these  two  vowels  are  influenced  by  their  respective  consonants, 
and  manifest  a  strong  affinity  for  them  ;  but  we  do  object  to 
his  calling  the  vowel  a  a  guttural  vowel,  for  that  part  of  the 
mouth,  where  the  guttural  consonants  are  formed,  is  not  any 
more  active  in  the  pronunciation  of  a,  than  in  that  of  any 
other  vowels ;  moreover,  Mr.  Corssen  does  not  furnish  us 
with  one  single  instance,  where  the  guttural  consonants  exert 


88  VOWELS. 

any  particular  influence  over  a,  or  where  this  vowel  manifests 
any  peculiar  affinity  for  them.  In  some  future  work,  where 
we  shall  treat  on  the  formation  of  the  vowels  and  consonants, 
we  shall  enter  more  fully  into  this  subject. 

The  long  u  has  several  origins.  It  is  contracted  from  au 
in  words  like  the  following,  viz.  :  rudus  for  raudus,  rudus- 
culum  together  with  rauduscula,  adrudus  for  adraudus, 
defrudo  for  defraudo,  frustra  for  fraustera,  frudes  for 
fraudes,  frudavi  for  fraudavi,  (Plaut.)  cludo  for  claudo  ; 
in  the  Umbrian,  also,  we  find,  uhtur  for  auctor  and  turuf 
for  taurus. 

It  is  derived  from  ou  in  publico,  poplicod,  poublicom; 
nuntiuSj  nontiata,  nountios ;  nundinum,  nondinfum^, 
nounas,  noundinum  ;  Nuceriafor  Nouceria,  (I.,  174.) 

It  is  very  seldom  formed  from  eu  in  Lucetium  for  Leucesio 
(I.,  176)(fc177),  more  frequently  from  oe  and  oi,  as  in  ludunt, 
ludeis  from  loedos,  loidos  ;  unum  from  oenus,  oino  ;  plures 
from  ploera,  ploirume,  miinicipium  from  immoenis,  moini- 
cipium  ;  utier  from  oetier,  oitile  ;  curarunt  from  coeravit, 
coiravit ;  murum  from  moerum,  moiro  ;  punire  from  poena, 
noivri;  Punicus  from  Poenus,  Poenicia. 

The  Latin  u,  when  long,  generally  sounded  like  u  in  rule, 
and  when  short,  like  u  in  put,  or  oo  in  book,  and  Marius 
Yictorinus  is  right  in  saying,  "  U  liter  am,  quam  nisi  per  ov 
conjunctam  [French  ou  in  jour~],  Graeci  pronuntiare  non 
possunt."  The  Latin  u,  thus  sounded  like  the  German  u  or 
the  English  u  in  rule  or  put  [or  ou  in  should^.  The  Greeks 
generally  represented  it  by  ov,  which  corresponds  to  the  above 
u  in  rule  and  put,  sometimes  by  o,  and  very  rarely  by  v.  Mr. 
Corssen  is  perfectly  right  in  saying  (I.,  149),  that  unless  the 
Greeks  marked  a  very  decided  distinction  between  the  short 
Latin  u,  and  the  short  vowels  of  their  own  tongue,  in  writing 
Latin  words,  they  would  never  have  represented  the  short 
Latin  u,  in  all  cases,  by  the  mark  of  their  diphthong  ov. 

The  fact  that  the  Latins,  in  a  certain  number  of  words,  had 
an  intermediate  sound,  for  which  the  Emperor  Claudius  in- 


VOWELS.  89 

vented  a  peculiar  mark,  we  have  noticed  above  in  our  article 
on  i. 

U  was  weakened  from  a  in  the  second  member  of  com- 
pounds, after  it  had  first  lost  its  accent  by  composition,  e.  g., 
occupo,  aucupor  from  capio,  where  the  u  remains  unaccented 
and  aucupium,  mancupium,  occupio,  where  it  afterwards  re- 
gained its  accent;  derupio,  surrupio,  surruptitiae,  surrup- 
tus,  eruptus  from  rapio,  instead  of  the  later  forms,  deripio, 
surreptus,  etc.  ;  enubro,  from  en-habeo,  inhibeo  ;  illumes  for 
inluvium,  diluvium,  malluvium  for  manluvium,  pellavium 
all  from  lavo ;  desulio,  dissulio,  insulio,  prosulio,  exsulto, 
desultor  from  salio,  which,  at  a  later  period,  were  partly 
weakened  into  dissilio,  desilio,  prosilio  ;  conculco  from  cal- 
care ;  cone  utio,  concuotio  from  quatio  ;  absurdus  from  sardare. 

0  became  u,  in  the  o-declension  before  s  and  m,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  educated,  (I.,  239,  241),  thus  tribunus  for  tri- 
bunos,  Plautius  for  Plautios,  etc.,  donum  for  donom,  pocu- 
lam  for  poculom,  (I.,  41).  In  a  similar  mariner,  in  the 
consonantal  and  the  fourth  or  u-declension,  o,  at  an  earlier 
period,  was  changed  into  u,  e.  g.,  nominus  for  nominos,  do- 
muus  for  domuos,  senatuus  for  senatuos,  and  this  u  was 
afterwards  changed  into  i,  e.  g.,  nominis  for  nominus,  sena- 
tuis  for  senatuus. 

The  labials  b,  p,  f,  m,  show  a  natural  affinity  for  the  vowel 
u,  in  the  pronunciation  of  which  the  lips  are  mostly  active  (I., 
252-254),  [compare  the  Hebrew  u  instead  of  ve  before  b,  m, 
ph~\,  for  this  reason  glaucuma  was  made  of  yxavxw^a.  The 
original  o  of  the  first  pers.  plur.,  which  in  Sanscrit  is  a,  in 
Greek  [and  old  Sclavonic]  o  with  a  nasal  sound  is  obscured 
into  u,  but,  subsequently,  mostly  reduced  into  i,  as  in  sumus 
[for  esomos"],  Gr.  i \a6^^a ;  volumus  for  votomos,  Gr.  j3«xo/t^a, 
nolumus  for  nolomos,  malumus  for  malomos,  [quaesumus 
for  quaesomos'].  For  the  same  reason  u  appears,  in  the  old 
Latin,  before  suffixes  commencing  with  m,  as  in  decumaf 
infumum,  lacrumas,  maritumeis,  optuma,  probisumat 
inaxume,  proxumeis.  vicensumam,  ploirume,  facilumed. 


90  VOWELS. 

Thus  a  and  e,  before  the  suffixes  monio  and  mento,  passed 
into  u,  as  in  testumonium  from  testa-,  and  monumentum  and 
documentum  from  mone~,  and  doce—.  Mr.  Corssen,  very 
unnecessarily,  it  seems  to  us,  derives  testimonium  from  testis 
as  humanus,  from  huminem,  which  form  is  mentioned  by 
Priscian.  In  the  above  suffixes,  also,  the  vowel  u  was  after- 
wards reduced  into  i.  In  the  latest  Latin,  we  also  find  o 
in  monomentum  (L,  253)  which  may  be  a  remnant  of 
antiquity  in  the  vulgar  tongue.  Yery  pertinent  instances  of 
the  sirong  affinity  existing  between  ra  arid  u  are  the  Plautian 
forms  drachuma  for  fyc^ur,  Alcumena  for  'A&x/ujf/q,  Alcumaeo 
for  ' Ahxpaiw,Tecumessa  for  Tex^caa:  in  order  to  obviate 
the  combination  cm,  which  was  not  convenient  to  Roman 
organs,  the  vowel-like  admixture  of  m  was  there  developed 
into  a  mute  u,  as  that  of  I  in  Hercules  and  Aesculapius  (L, 
253).  In  case/  or  6  was  the  initial  of  the  second  member 
of  compounds,  ^  was  originally,  in  most  cases,  made  the  final 
of  the  stem  ;  nay,  it  even  favored  the  generation  of  u  in  the 
following  syllable.  This  we  see  illustrated  in  the  following 
Plautian  forms,  viz  :  sacrufico  for  sacrifice-,  magnujicus  for 
magnificus,  fumuficem,  signuficem,  spurcuficum,  pontufex, 
tnunuficus,  opufex,  carnufex,  carnuficina ;  and  this  u 
remained  in  manufestus.  We,  also,  find  bubus  for  bobus, 
rubeus  together  with  robeus,  rubustis  with  robustis  ;  Hecuba 
from  an  older  form  Hecoba,  Gr.  *Exa/3^ ;  and  ebur  together 
with  ebor,  robur  with  robor  (comp.  marmur  for  marmor), 
tubulustrium  from  tuba. 

When  followed  by  I,  as  well  in  stems,  as  in  the  suffixes  ulo, 
bulo,  culo  and  their  derivatives,  the  vowel  o  of  the  Old-Latin 
is  obscured  into  u.  In  the  older  inscriptions  the  original  o 
was  frequently  preserved,  and  appears  still  in  some  inscriptions 
during  the  time  of  the  empire,  but  in  the  later  inscriptions 
[after  the  written  language  again  approximated  to  the  vulgar 
tongue],  it  most  decidedly  came  into  use  again.  Some  traces 
of  the  obscuration  of  o  into  u  are  visible  at  a  very  early  period, 
as  in  Cesula,  adulescens,  epistula.  About  the  time  of  Lucilius 


VOWELS.  91 

and  Accius  a  vacillation  is  seen,  in  the  inscriptions,  between 
o  and  u,  e.  g.  detulerit  and  detolerit,  tabulas  and  taboleis, 
populus  and  popolus,  singulos  and  singolos,  etc.,  (I.,  255). 
According  to  Mr.  Corssen,  the  change  of  o  into  u  before  Z,  in 
the  classical  period  of  Roman  literature,  was  owing  to  the 
affinity  between  I  and  u.  The  letter  Z,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
as  an  initial,  and  after  I  had  a  lighter  sound,  and,  in 
all  other  cases,  one  which  was  fuller  and  heavier.  This 
latter  sound  is  produced,  when,  in  pronouncing  Z,  we  bend  up 
the  tongue  towards  the  palate,  as  is  done  in  the  pronunciation 
of  u  [?].  By  this  means  the  consonant  Z  obtains  a  vowel-like 
admixture,  resembling  u,  which  assimilates  all  preceding 
rowels  into  u.  The  Greek  x,on  the  other  hand,  contrary  to 
the  Latin,  has  always  the  more  slender  and  lighter  sound,  and 
hence  before  the  suffix  AO  it  is  not  only  attended  by  o,  v  and  i, 
but  also  by  the  clear  sounding  vowels  a  and  *,  while  the  Latin 
Z,  during  the  classical  period  of  the  language  and  literature, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  only  suffered  u,  unless  it  was  exposed 
to  the  influence  of  a  preceding  vowel  which  demanded  o.  See 
the  following  examples. 

pessulus    for    rfa<™aa,o£,     Siculus    for     2c*£Ao$, 
vitulus        "      tr-axos,         nebula       "       veyeMi, 
crapula       "      xpatrta^,    paenula    "       ?>aw>^, 

SCUtuld,         "         6xvfd).ri,        triobulus    "         6j3oXoj, 
SCOpuluS       "         6x6rtf\o$,        COnduluS    "          xovSvXof, 

spatula       "      6*0,1 'a*.*]. 

Menolaus  for  Mci/c&aof,,  and  Patricoles  for  nat'poxA^  are  the 
only  instances  which  make  an  exception.  When  the  liquid  I 
is  followed  by  another  consonant,  the  vowels  o,  a,  e,  are  obscured 
in  a  like  manner  into  u.  Thus  we  find  multa  for  molticatod, 
consultum  from  consoltu,  occulto  from  oquoltod,  culpa  from 
colpa,  pulcher  from  rfoa,v#poo$,  cultus  from  coZo,  adultus  from 
adole,  stultus  from  stolidus,  ultra  from  olus  (oloes),  puls, 
pulmentum  from  rtoxroj,  sulcus  from  fax6$,  Culchis  from 
bulbus  from  0oa,/3o$,  imbulbito  from  /3o?ij3tro»/,  ^Zrm  from 
pulvis,  pollen  from  *atoj,  pulsus,  vulsus  from 


92  VOWELS. 

vello,  perculsus  from  percello,  mulgeo  from  d/tt^yw,  promulco 
from  promellere,  remulcare  and  remeligines,  sepulcrum 
sepultus  from  sepelio,  catapulta  from  xatartfA?^,  fulmen, 
fulgor  \_flamen\  from  flagro,  fulvus  from  flavus,  tremunt, 
(Carmen  Saliare)  tremonti,  dederunt  from  dederont,  etc., 
swr?£  for  sontf,  etc.,  (I.,  160,  161). 

Before  other  consonants,  also,  o  was  obscured  into  u,  as 
before  nt  and  nd,  in  nuntius  from  nontius,  etc.,  Acheruntem 
from  'A^lpovr'a,  frunte,  for  fronte,  Fruntuni  from  Frontom, 
funte  for  fonte,  promuntorium  for  promontorium  (I.,  262), 
muntanus  for  montanus,  ^ert-topovrtcp  for  Septimontio ;  also 
iufaciundam  for  an  old  form  faciondam,  frundes  for/ron- 
c?es,  dupundi  for  dupondi,  further  Brundusium  for  Bp«vff<yM>r, 
Bruttii  for  Bplrf  tot,  Bplrt't-ot. 

Before  rcs,  o  appears  obscured  into  it  in  procunsul  for  j^ro- 
consul,  formunsus  for  formonsus,  formosus,frus  (Ennius) 
for  frons  ;  also  before  nc  in  7z  wnc  for  7ionc,  sescunciam  for 
sesconciam,  and  in  the  formations,  in  which  to  the  first  prefix 
—on,  ton,  a  second—  cw£o[a]  was  appended,  as  in  caruncula 
from  caron,  caro ;  carbunculus  from  carbon,  carbo  ;  homun- 
culus  from  homon,  homo ;  avunculus  from  avon,  derived 
from  auo,  a-uws  by  the  suffix — o?i. 

In  case  the  diminutive  suffix  wZo  is  added  to  the  derivative 
syllable  on,  the  vowel  M  of  the  former  is  frequently  rejected, 
and  the  letter  n  of  the  latter  assimilated  to  the  following  I ; 
the  vowel  o,  however,  before  u  from  nZ,  is  obscured  into  u, 
e.  g.,  in  lenullus  from  the  stem  Zenon,  homullus  from  homon, 
Catullus  from  Catonulus,  Catonlus,  Catollus,  Catullus,  etc., 
(I.,  263.)  In  a  similar  manner  ampulla  was  shortened  of 
amporula  from  ampora. 

0  was,  likewise,  changed  into  M,  before  m  with  a  following 
consonant,  as  in  umbo,  umbilicus  from  Gr.  6/t^axoj,  incum- 
parabili  for  incomparabili,  triumpe  from  £p«xju/3oj,  (I.,  264).) 
Into  this  category,  also,  belongs,  according  to  Mr.  Corssew, 
the  Lat.  suffix — umno,  which  corresponds  to  the  Greek  par- 
ticiple ending  o^vo,  and  shows  u  before  mnf  e.  g.,  alumnus 


VOWELS.  93 

from  alere,  auctumnus  from  auto^t*^,  columna  from 
xEMxyuvi?,  etc.,  (I.,  164). 

0  and  e  were,  also,  obscured  into  u,  before  r,  when  followed 
by  n,  e.  g.,  eburneus  from  eboris,  nocturnus  from  vvxi'wp,, 
diurnus  from  cfo'es,  together  with  hodiernus.  The  syllable 
£^r  in  diuturnus  is  the  comparative  suffix  tero,  Osc.  £oro, 
&ro,  Umbr.  tru.  Gr.  *«po,  Sanscr.  tara.  In  a  similar  manner 
we  find  furnacator  and  fornacatores,  etc.,  (I.,  264.  265). 
Before  re,  rt,  rv,  rm,  and  s  when  followed  by  another  conso- 
nant, we  also  find  u  obscured  from  o,  e.  g.,  amurca  from 
d^oppj,  furcepem  for  forcipem,  Haburtis  for  Mavortis 
Kovpovlvos  from  Corvinus,  furmica  for  formica,  arbustum 
from  arbos,  minusculus  from  minos,  aplustre  from  a?>&aa*oi', 
(L,  265). 

£7  arose  by  assimilation,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen,  in 
tugurium  for  tegurium  from  fe<70,  or  togurium  from  /o^a, 
(L,  306.) 

U  which  was  originally  long,  was  shortened  before  s,  as  in 
palus  ;  but  in  some  passages  in  Plautus,Virgilius,and  Ovidius 
it  is  still  found  long  in  the  verb,  as  in  vtmmus,  fatigamiis, 
negabamus  (I.,  360). 

The  vowel  u  was  shortened  before  the  m  of  the  Genitive 
plural,  both  in  consonantal,  and  also  in  some  i-stems,  e.  g., 
matrum,  partium ;  but  it  remained  long  in  the  genitive 
plural  of  o-stems,  as  in  numum,  deum,  sestertium  ;  as  also 
the  vowel  o  in  the  Old-Latin  forms  Aisermnom,  Aisermno, 
Romano,  Suesano,  Ladinom,  Aquino,  Caiatino,  Caleno, 
Corano,  Cozano,  Paistano,  Romano,  (I.,  367). 

U  is  likewise  shortened  in  pusillus  from  pusus,  pusio,  in 
biibus  from  bubus  and  in  bubulcus,  and  also  in  Yirgil  in 
diuturnus  from  diu  (L,  373).  Lastly  it  is  shortened  when 
fojfcwed  by  another  vowel,  as  in  acai,  tribui,  indui,  argui, 
iimui,  imbui,  exui  \_fui  for  fu^v^i,  genui  for  genuvi~]. 

Fid  was  sfeert  shortened  from/ta* ;  fui  stands  for/ot«[?]  ;  u 
in  foui  was  hardened  into  v  as  is  shown  in  foverint,  etc., 
(II.,  159). 


94 


DIPHTHONG. 


Diphthongs. 

After  treating  of  the  orthography  and  development  of  the 
gutturals,  labials  and  dentals,  as  well  as  of  that  of  the  simple 
vowels,  Mr.  Corssen  shows  how  the  compound  vowels  or 
diphthongs  took  their  rise,  and,  in  the  course  of  time,  after 
passing  through  many  changes,  dwindled  down  again  into 
simple  vowels.  He  says,  "  We  cannot  follow  the  Latin  into 
the  illustrious  time  of  its  youth,  when  the  system  of  its  vowels 
continued  unimpaired.  In  the  third  century  before  Christ, 
where  our  knowledge  of  this  language  begins,  this  system  waa 
already  on  the  decline  ;  diphthongs  were  losing  their  original 
purity,  long  vowels  were  shortened  and  short  vowels  rejected 
without  leaving  any  evidence  that  they  ever  existed.  Indeed, 
the  whole  system  seems  to  have  been  in  a  state  of  commotion  : 
older  and  fuller  forms  appearing  continually  among  the  lighter 
mass  of  new  formations,  until  at  last,  in  the  classic  time  of 
literature,  after  ridding  itself  of  all  the  old  sounds  and  forms, 
the  language  arrives  at  a  state  of  rest  and  solidity.  In  the 
written  language  the  system  of  vowels  continues  in  this  state, 
but  in  the  vulgar  tongue  it  is  broken  up  more  and  more,  until 
at  last  it  appears  in  that  form  in  which  it  is  presented  by  the 
modern  Romance  tongues."  (I.,  154) 

Mr.  Corssen  continues  (I.,  154,  155),  "  The  diphthongs  arise 
in  the  Indo-Germanic  [better,  Indo-European]  languages 
principally  by  an  intensifying  of  the  vowels  ("  Vocal- 
steigerung").  In  the  Sanscrit  the  simple  vowels  i  and  u  are 
intensified  ("  gesteigert ")  into  e  and  6  by  the  prefixing  of  the 
short  sound  of  a,  and  into  ai  and  au,  by  the  prefixing  of  a 
long  a.  Thus  by  prefixing  a  short  a  before  i  and  u,  not  two 
vowels  are  produced,  each  of  which  constitutes  a  syllable,  but 
one  intermediate  sound  between  a  and  i,  and  a  and  u ;  and 
by  prefixing  a  long  a  a  double  intermediate  sound  or  a 


DIPHTHONGS.  95 

diphthong,  which,  likewise,  only  forms  one  syllable.  Under 
the  same  conditions  on  which  the  vowels  i  and  u  are  inten- 
sified in  the  above  manner,  in  the  Sanscrit,  the  short  a  itself, 
whenever  the  form  of  the  word  requires  it,  by  intensifying,  is 
prolonged  into  a.  In  the  Greek  the  diphthongs  av  and  cu 
arose,  likewise,  by  an  intensifying  of  the  vowels ;  unless  it  can 
be  proved  that  they  originated  in  some  other  manner ;  and  as 
an  original  a  has  been  frequently  weakened  into  «  and  o,  in 
this  language,  the  vowels  *  and  v  by  intensifying,  also,  pro- 
duced the  diphthongs  «,  <H,  tv,ov.  In  a  similar  manner,  as 
a  general  thing,  the  genuine  Latin  diphthongs  au,  ou,  oi,  eu, 
ei  arose  by  an  intensifying  of  the  vowels  i  and  u,  unless  they 
originated  in  a  more  mechanical  way  by  the  addition  of  a  suf- 
fix commencing  with  a  vowel,  to  a  stem  ending  in  a  vowel, 
or  else,  by  two  vowels  forming  a  diphthong  upon  the  rejection 
of  a  consonant,  or  by  the  semi-vowel  v  being  dissolved  into  u, 
before  a  following  consonant,  and  thus  constituting  a  diph- 
thong with  the  preceding  vowel.  The  intensifying  of  the 
vowels,  in  the  Latin  language,  frequently  escapes  the  notice, 
because  its  diphthongs  are  often  blended  into  a  simple  long 
sound.  Still  there  are  some  examples  left,  by  which  we  can 
see,  how  in  the  old  language,  by  intensifying,  a  short  u  became 
ou  and  eu,  and  a  short  i  oi  and  ei,  which,  however,  at  a  later 
period,  were  blended  into  u  and  i  (I.,  155-157),  e.  g. 

u,                  ou,                 eu,                6,  u, 

lucerna,       Loucina,        Leucesie,  lux  (lucem). 

populus,      poublicus,                        poplicus  publicus. 

due-is,          abdoucit,  duco. 

jugum,                                ?«vyof,  jugera. 

t,           oit                   oe,                ei,  I,  e, 

fides,  f oider  e,                         difeidens,  confldo. 

libet,    x<H/3»J,                              leiberis,  liber, 

libido,  (loibesum)  loebesum,  leibertini,  liber, 
idem                                          eis            e-eis  (for  e-is,  or  t-is). 

ju-dwo                                      deixeris,  dico,  etc. 
9 


96  DIPHTHONGS. 

"  The  vowels  d,  et  6  cannot  be  changed  into  diphthongs  by 
the  prefixing  of  a,  on  which  account,  as  in  the  Greek,  where 
i  by  intensifying  becomes  ei  and-oi,  and  u,  eu  and  ou,  they 
are  simply  made  long.  This  is  principally  done  in  the  deri- 
vation of  nouns  from  simple  verbs,  which  often  are  no  longer 
found  in  this  simple  form,  but  by  the  suffixes  a,  e,  [i],  have 
passed  over  into  the  a-,  e-,  [or  i-]  conjugation,  e.  g.  pdc-unt 
and  pdc-s  pdc-is  ;  pdciscor  o>nd  pdc-^ao^o  ;  frdg-or  and  suf- 
frdgium;  leg-o  sn\dleg-s,  lex  (leg-is)  colleg-a;  r&go  and  reg-s, 
rex  (regis)  ;  sec-\_ao~\  o  and  slca ;  teg-o  and  teg-ula ;  vac-\ao~] 
o,  vdco  and  vdg-ina ;  i?oc-[ao],  voco  and  voc-s,  vox  (vdcis)." 

"  The  same  is  done,  when  verbs  are  derived  from  nouns, 
where  frequently  the  original  form  of  the  noun  has  been  lost, 
e.  g.  sdg-ax  and  sdgire,  praesdg-us ;  pldcidus,  pldcere  and 
pldcare  ;  mdcer  and  mdcerare ;  sopor  and  sopire." 

As  regards  the  intensifying  of  the  vowels,  which  Mr. 
Corssen  has  endeavored  to  establish  for  the  Latin,  in  the 
present  work,  and  which  (I.,  158,  159)  he  has  tried  to  prove 
by  an  additional  number  of  verbal  forms,  marked  with  the 
apex,  but  which  are  not  acknowledged,  to  be  long  by  scholars  in 
general,  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  it  will  not  be  admitted 
to  the  same  extent,  even  by  the  members  of  his  own  school 
(that  of  comparative  philology),  certainly  not  with  regard 
to  the  perfect  tense.  First  of  all,  the  question  as  to  the 
priority  of  the  aorist  (perfect),  or  of  the  present  tense  still 
remains  to  be  decided.  We  have,  above,  declared  ourselves 
in  favor  of  the  priority  of  the  aorist ;  and,  if  such  is  the  case, 
the  long  vowel  of  the  aorist  or  perfect-stem  is  not  long  by 
intensifying,  but  long  originally,  and  in  the  imperative  stem 
with  its  derivatives  this  original  long  vowel  has  been  weakened 
or  shortened. 

The  school  of  comparative  philology  teaches,  as  is  well 
known,  that  the  forms  fodi,  veni,  sedi,  legi,  must  be  explained 
by  the  reduplicated  forms  fofodi,  vevini,  sesidi,  leligi,  in 
which  the  initial  consonant  of  the  second  syllable  is  rejected, 
and  the  diphthong  or  double  vowel,  thus  obtained,  is  con- 


DIPHTHONGS.  97 

traded  into  a  long  vowel ;  ihusfoodi  into  fodi,  veini  into 
veni,  seidi  into  sedi,  leigi  into  legi*  The  long  vowel,  in  the 
above  perfect  forms,  i§,  therefore,  not  obtained  by  intensifying, 
but  by  the  blending  of  a  diphthong  or  a  double  vowel.  It  is 
certainly  true,  that  we  have  not  many  proofs  of  this  process 
within  the  Latin  language  itself,  inasmuch  as  pegi,  pepigi, 
panxi  from  pago,  panyo  is  the  only  form  on  record,  and  there 
the  derivation  of  pegi  from  pepigi  is  contested  ;  but  there  are 
striking  analogies  of  this  process  in  the  other  Indo-European 
languages  ;  for  instance  in  the  Sanscrit  (Bopp  II.,  482,  §  605), 
tenima  for  tetanima,  Old-Germ,  fangen  (to  catch),  fi-fang 
(I  caught),  ^an^r,  fieng  ;  hangen  (to  hang),  hi-hang  (I  hung,) 
hiang,  hieng,  and  in  one  of  the  Italic  dialects  we  find  fefacust, 
in  which  the  unaccented  a  of  the  second  syllable,  in  the  Latin 
language,  would  naturally  pass  into  i,  so  that  the  conclusion, 
that  the  Latin  fed  is  contracted  from  feici,  is  not  at  all  im- 
probable. The  long  vowel  in  the  words  tec-si,  texi  for  teg-si, 
tcgula ;  reg-o  [reg-si~],  rec-si,  rexi,  regula,  may  conse- 
quently, be  explained  without  any  intensifying  of  the  vowel, 
either  by  the  vowel  being  originally  long,  or  it  having  been 
made  long  by  reduplication  and  a  subsequent  blending  of  the 
diphthong.  The  suffix  si  would  have  to  be  regarded,  in  this 
latter  case,  as  a  later  addition  to  the  long  syllables  reg-,  teg — 
from  which,  also,  teg-ula,  reg-ula,  are  derived.  An  example 
of  an  original  length  is  furnished  us  by  the  stem  leg — ,  where 
we  find  leg-i,  lec-tum,  (I.,  159),  %/-[s],  lex,  col-leg-a.  We 
wonder  at  Mr.  Corssen's  deriving  illicio,  lexi  and  lictor  from 
the  same  root,  since  the  former  word  is  derived  from  lac-(lacio) ; 
— from  the  long  e  in  illexi,  we  are  certainly  authorized  to 
suppose  a  form  lee — ,  led,  as  jeci,  fed,  cepi,  to  which,  per- 
haps, at  a  later  period,  the  suffix  si  was  appended  ;  compare 
the  forms  delcctare,  oblectare,  which  were  marked  with  the 
apex.  As  regards  the  long  I  in  lictor  for  lig-tor,  it  is  derived 
from  lig-,  without  the  suffix  a,  as  in  relig-io  (a  checking  or 
restraining  from  doing  evil)  ;  this  latter  word  being  formed 
from  the  shortened  present  tense. 


98  DIPHTHONGS. 

[As  in  the  earlier  formations  of  the  Latin  language,  by  the 
rejection  of  consonants,  diphthongs  were  obtained  by  prefixes, 
coalescing  into  simple  vowels,  so  in  the  Romance  tongues,  e.  g. 
the  Spanish,  Portuguese  and  Italian,  suffixes  were  admitted 
into  the  aorist-stems,  in  order  to  strengthen  them,  «which, 
either  entirely  superseded  the  stem-vowel,  or  else  formed  a 
diphthong  with  it,  or  merged  with  it  into  one  vowel,  or  finally 
constituted  an  entirely  new  stem  with  it,  e.  g.  habere  (to 
have),  perfect  hab-ui,  Span,  hube,  Port,  houve  ;  the  Italian 
perfect  is  formed  from  the  vulgar  Latin  habio  (comp.  I., 
302),  instead  of  habeo  ;  from  habio  we  have  a  perfect  habii 
for  habui  ;  by  transposing  ^  we  obtain  haibi,  hebi,  and  as  the 
Italians  prefer  to  lengthen  their  words  by  position,  we  get 
hebbi,  ebbij  c.,  venni  for  veni,  from  veini  for  venii ;  Lat. 
sapio,  sapui,  Span,  supe,  Port,  sube,  Ital.  instead  of  sapii, 
saipi,  sepi,  seppi,  etc.  ;  Present  subjunctive  sapiam,  Port. 
saiba,  Span,  sepa ;  primarius,  Port,  primeiro,  Span. 
primer  o~\. 

Among  the  diphthongs  which  arose  in  a  more  mechanical 
way  by  the  addition  of  suffixes  commencing  with  a  vowel,  to 
stems  ending  in  one,  we  find  e.  g.,  vita-is,  vitai,  vitae  (of  the 
life),  gnato-is,  gnatoi,  gnati,  or  dative  plural  gnatois  gnatis, 
natis  ;  re-is,  rei,  spe-is,  spei  (of  the  hope). 

Diphthongs  which  arose  by  composition,  e.  g.,  ne-uter, 
neuter,  ne-utiquam,  neutiquam  ; 

pious  for  ploius,  eicit  for  ejicit,  reicit  for  rejicit ; 

conjuncti,  cojuncti,  council,  cuncti  ; 

Diphthongs,  formed  by  the  rejection  of  v,  e.  g.,  Cloelius, 
Cloilius,  Glovilius  ;  nauta  for  navita  ;  naufragus  for  navi- 
fragus ;  by  the  rejection  of  i  or  e,  e.  g.,  noundinum  for 
novendinum,  nounai  for  novenai,  Nouceria  for  Noviceria. 

An. 

The  diphthong  an  has  been  preserved  in  many  cases,  so  that 
even,  at  the  present  day,  it  is  heard  in  the  mouth  of  the 


DIPHTHONGS.  99 

Italians.  In  other  cases,  however,  it  commenced  early  to  be 
blended  into  o,  and  more  seldom  in  u.  Thus,  in  an  inscrip- 
tion, dating  from  the  time  of  the  Punic  war,  we  find  Pola  for 
Paula,  and  in  another  which  is  among  the  oldest,  Ploti  for 
Plauti,  Plotus  for  Plautus,  and  semiplotia  for  semiplautia 
(I.,  163.  164).  According  to  Yerrius  Flaccus,  the  poet 
Plautus  was  at  first  called  Plotus,  and  Cato,  in  his  work  on 
agriculture,  uses  dehoritOj  instead  of  dehaurito.  Dioni  p. 
378,  says,  "  Au  syllaba  cum  '  o  J  commercium  habet,  ut  cum 
dicimus  l  claustra '  et  *  clostra,'  t  cauda '  et  '  coda  '  et 
similia."  Still,  words  in  au  belonged  more  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  educated,  while  those  in  o  belonged  to  that  of 
the  people.  Thus  Mestrius  Florus,  according  to  Sueton., 
Yespas.  c.  22,  rated  Yespasian  on  his  pronouncing  '  plostra  J 
and  not  '  plaustra ;'  and  on  the  next  day,  the  pedantic  con- 
sular was  paid  back  by  the  witty  emperor's  addressing  him 
'  Flaurus?  instead  of  '  Floras'  (L,  167.  168).  From  the  fact, 
that  in  a  very  old  brass  tablet  of  Spoleto  we  read  Aorelius, 
instead  of  Aurelius,  Mr.  Corssen  concludes,  that  before  au 
was  blended  into  o,  it  passed  through  an  intermediate  stage  of 
aot  on  account  of  this  latter  sound  being  nearer  to  a,  in  its 
pronunciation,  [see  our  remarks  on  the  pronunciation  of  the 
diphthong  ou].  As  regards  Mr.  Corssen's  observation,  that 
the  spelling  of  ausculari  instead  of  osculari,  and  of  auri- 
chalcum  instead  of  orichalcum  (opst^axxos),  could  certainly 
only  have  been  introduced  by  the  learned,  we  doubt  this  very 
much,  inasmuch  as  not  a  great  amount  of  erudition  is  required 
to  discover  the  derivation  of  osculor  from  osculum,  os ;  but 
we  think  that  it  has  rather  been  introduced  by  the  unlearned 
who,  in  English,  would  write  and  pronounce  hof  instead  of 
of,  and  as  instead  of  has  and  who,  in  order  to  be  sure  that 
they  write  the  word  'asparagus  '  correctly,  spell  it  '  sparrow- 
grass,1  in  imitation  of  its  popular  pronunciation  '  spargus ' 
and  *  spargrass. J 

[Concerning  the   pronunciation  of  au,  see  the  following 
article.] 

9* 


100 


DIPHTHONGS. 
OIL 


The  diphthong  ou,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen  (I.,  171-176) 
arose  either  (as  has  been  observed  above)  by  an  intensifying 
of  the  vowel,  e.  g.  Loucina,  Loucetios,  loumen,  poublicom, 
abdoucit ;  or  by  the  rejection  of  the  semi-vowel  i  OTJ,  and  a 
subsequent  junction  of  the  final  o  of  the  stem,  with  the  vowel 
u  of  the  comparative  suffix,  as  in  pious  forplo-ius,  plouruma; 
or  by  dissolving  the  semi-vowel  v,  before  a  consonant,  into  u, 
with  which  consonant  it  came  into  contact  by  the  rejection  of 
e  or  i,  e.  g.  noundinum  for  novendinum,  Clouli  for  Clovili, 
etc.  Mr.  Ritschl  proves  from  the  inscriptions,  that  the 
diphthong  ou  was  only  in  general  use,  up  to  the  war  with  the 
allies,  but,  in  the  wordjous  and  its  derivations  it  remained  as 
late  as  the  servile  war  and  the  war  against  Sertorius,  because 
in  law-documents  the  spelling  of  jous,  joubeatis,  joudex,jou~ 
dido,  after  the  fashion  of  the  ancestors  of  the  Romans  was 
retained  ;  still,  in  the  very  oldest  inscriptions,  we  occasionally 
meet  with  '  u*  instead  of  ou.  At  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  the 
vacillation  between  the  spelling  of  ou  and  u  began  to  be 
general  ;  for,  either  u  was  assimilated  to  the  preceding  o  and 
constituted  with  it  a  long  6,  or  else  [as  a  more  general  thing], 
o  was  assimilated  to  u,  and  they  both  formed  a  long  u,  e.  g. 
ou.  o.  u. 

poublicom  poplicod  puplico,  publico,  etc. 

The  diphthong  ou,  when  followed  by  a  vowel,  also  passed 
over  into  ov,  and  either  by  the  assimilation  of  o  into  u,  or  by 
the  intermediate  form  uu,  was  changed  into  uv,  and,  thus, 
finally  into  u,  e.  g. 

ov.  uv.  u. 

soveis  suvo  suo. 

[With  regard  to  the  pronunciation  of  this  diphthong, 
although  this  is  no  matter  of  great  consequence,  inasmuch  as 
it  has  not  survived  in  the  classic  Latin,  we  hold,  that  it  was 
pronounced  like  the  English  ou  in  gout  and  doubt,  or  the 
German  au  in  Saus  and  Brans,  that  it  thus  approximated 


r 


DIPHTHONGS.  101 

somewhat  to  the  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  diphthong  au, 
which,  we  hold,  was  pronounced  like  the  English  ou  in  our 
or  ow  in  howl,  and  like  the  German  au  in  Laub.  A  careful 
observer  will  notice  that  the  latter  of  these  sounds,  viz., 
English  ou  in  our  or  ow  in  fowl,  and  German  au  in  Laub, 
terminates  in  the  vowel  o  in  hole,  and  the  former,  viz.,  Engl. 
ou  in  gout  and  doubt,  and  Germ,  au  in  Saus  and  Braus,  in 
the  vowel  z7  in  rwtZe.  The  Latin  diphthong  au,  consequently, 
was  not  composed  of  the  sounds  of  a  in  far  and  u  in  rude, 
but  of  the  sounds  of  a  and  o  in  hole,  viz.,  a/i-o.  The  blend- 
ing of  the  diphthong  au  into  o  is,  therefore,  to  be  understood 
in  this  manner,  that  the  first  member  of  the  diphthong,  viz.,  a, 
was  absorbed  by  its  second  member,  viz.  o  ;  and  the  spelling 
Aorelius  instead  of  Aurelius  shows,  that,  at  the  time,  from 
which  this  spelling  dates,  the  second  member  of  the  diphthong 
already  preponderated,  so  that  its  true  nature,  viz.  o  had 
become  apparent.  Before  the  dental  d,  au  seems  to  have 
been  pronounced  like  the  diphthong  ou,  thus  like  the  English 
ou  in  gout  and  doubt,  for  whenever  au  is  followed  by  d,  as  in 
r  audits,  fraudo,  claudo,  it  is  not  blended  into  o  but  into  u. 
In  the  diphthong  ou,  which  really  terminated  in  u  in  rude,  the 
first  member  was  assimilated  into  u,  and  at  the  time,  when  the 
second  member  of  the  diphthong  began  to  preponderate,  when- 
ever it  was  followed  by  a  vowel,  its  affinity  to  the  semi  -vowel 
v  became  developed,  and  it  was  changed  into  v,  viz.,  soveis. 
As  regards  the  blending  of  ou  into  6,  which  seems  to  conflict 
with  our  theory,  we  hold,  that  the  absorption  of  the  first 
member  of  the  diphthong  by  the  second  was  not  effected  in  an 
instant,  and,  thus,  for  a  considerable  time  after  the  two  con- 
stituent members  of  the  diphthong  had  ceased  to  be  pronounced 
separately,  there  was  a  strong  admixture  of  the  first  member 
in  the  sound  produced,  which  was  only  gradually  reduced  by 
the  superior  power  of  the  second  member,  and  in  some 
diphthongs,  as  we  shall  show  hereafter,  it  was  never  completely 
overcome  :  thus,  after  the  diphthong  ou  in  poublicom  had 
coalesced  into  a  simple  sound,  the  mixture  produced  was  at 


102  DIPHTHONGS. 

first  very  strongly  tinctured  by  6  in  hMe,  hence  poplicod,  but, 
afterwards,  when  the  mixture  had  cleared  off,  we  find  puplico, 
piiblico.  Moreover,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  such  instances 
where  ou  appears  blended  into  6  are  very  rare,  and  that  the 
usual  form  is  u.~\ 

EU. 

The  diphthong  eu,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen  (I.,  116,  177), 
occurs  least  frequently  in  the  Latin  language.  Above  we 
have  mentioned  the  form  Leucesie,  which  is  found  in  the 
'  Carmen  Saliare,'  (i.  e.  the  old  hymn  of  the  Roman  priests 
of  Mars,  who  celebrated  the  beginning  of  spring  by  a  pro- 
cession, with  dancing  and  singing,)  and  we  have  stated  that 
it  originated  from  a  short  u  which  was  intensified  into  ou 
and  eu. 

But  even  the  surname  Lucius  must  have  originally  sounded 
Leucius,  as  it  is  spelled  Atvxtoj  by  the  Greeks  ;  it  is,  moreover, 
found  in  names  as  Teurano,  Teurisci,  Leuvius,  Teudasio. 
This  diphthong  has,  also,  been  formed  by  composition,  as  we 
have  seen  above,  e.  g.  in  ne-uter,  ne-utiquam  ;  and  by  rejec- 
tion of  the  final  e,  as  in  neu  for  n-eve,  seu  for  sive.  The 
remaining  words  which  are  spelled  with  eu,  are  ceu,  heu, 
eheu,  and  those  originally  Greek. 

[As  regards  the  pronunciation  of  this  diphthong,  it,  cer- 
tainly, was  not  pronounced  like  the  English  eu  in  feud;  for 
this  latter  sound  was  expressed  in  Latin  by  ju  in  jus  orjudico. 
It  seems  to  us  that  it  was  rather  pronounced  like  the  diphthong 
ei  in  height,  with  this  difference,  however,  that  instead  of 
terminating  in  the  slender  i  in  machine  or  caprice,  as  in 
height,  it  ended  in  the  intermediate  sound  between  i  and  ut 
which  we  noticed  above,  pag.  76,  and  which,  we  hold, 
resembled  the  French  u.  In  this  manner  we  obtain  the  sound 
which  is  given  by  the  Germans  to  their  diphthong  eu  in  neu, 
Leute,  etc.] 


DIPHTHONGS.  103 

AT. 

The  diphthong  ai,  as  early  as  the  time  of  the  Syrian  war, 
was  weakened  into  ae,  and  this  sound  has  prevailed  in  the 
language  since  the  time  of  the  Gracchi.  At  an  early  time,  as 
is  shown  by  Mr.  Corssen,  this  ae  was  changed  in  the  mouth 
of  the  country-people  into  e  {e  in  then,  or  a  in  fate']  ;  this 
was  the  rustic  pronunciation  at  the  times  of  Lucilius  and 
Yarro,  and  ever  afterwards.  This  sound  of  e  (a  in  fate)  was 
developed  more  and  more  in  the  living  tongue  of  the  entire 
people,  after  the  first  period  of  the  empire,  and,  about  the 
third  century  after  Christ,  it  had  become  universally  domi- 
nant. In  some  cases  it  was,  afterwards,  obscured  into  the 
sound  of  i  inclining  to  e,  which  was  even  shortened  into  i. 

The  diphthong  ai  appears  both  in  stems  and  in  suffixes, 
when  the  endings  of  cases,  beginning  with  a  vowel,  were 
subjoined  to  sterns,  ending  in  a  vowel.  It  is  found  in  stems 
in  the  following  words,  dating  from  the  oldest  times,  which 
are  mentioned  by  Mr.  Corssen,  among  many  others,  e.  g., 
praidad  for  praedd,  aidiles  for  aediles,  aire,  airid  for  aere, 
quaistores  for  quaestor  es,  aiquom  for  aequum,  quairatis 
for  quaeratis,  Gnaivod  for  Cnaeus,  Caicilio  for  Caecilio, 
Aimilius  for  Aemilius,  Aigius  for  Aegius.  The  forms 
conquaeisivei,  Caeicius,  Caeicianus,  Caeicilius,  Gaeidia 
indicate  the  transition  from  the  full  sound  of  both  members 
of  the  diphthong  to  that  of  ae  [e  in  there  or  ai  in  pair~]  which 
as  Mr.  Corssen  has  observed  above,  at  an  early  period,  in  the 
mouth  of  the  rustic  population  passed  over  into  the  simple 
sound  of  e  [d  \\\  fdte~\. 

The  diphthong  ai  appears  in  the  time  before  Augustus,  as 
the  suffix  of  cases  or  as  a  part  of  it  in  the  genitive,  locative 
and  dative  of  the  following  words ;  in  the  genitive  [for  which 
Mr.  Corssen  always  writes  genetive]  and  in  the  locative,  e.  g. 
fameliai  for  familiae,  Aecetiai  for  aequitiae,  tavernai  for 
tabernae,  Belo[n~]ai,  Menervai,  pulcrai  for  pulchrae,  vitai 
for  vitae,  Dvelonai,  Feroniai,  colonial,  restinctai,  Appiai 


104  DIPHTHONGS. 

O/illiai,  Rufai;  in  the  dative  case,  e.  g.  Caesiai,  Dianai, 
Clodiai,  Glycerai,  Luciai,  amantissumai  (I.,  178,  179). 

From  the  times  of  Augustas  and  the  following  emperors,  we 
find  the  following  instances  of  the  genitive  and  locative  [in 
inscriptions],  e.  g.  patriai,  Asiai,  Syriai,  provincial  (Locat  ) 
Romai,  Eaitiai,  divinaij  Nicostratai,  Nipiai,  Tintorai,  viai, 
Dertosai,  (Locat.),  Calidiai,  Fortunai ;  of  the  dative  case, 
e.  g.,  Agrippai,  colonial,  Beneventanai,  Sentiai,  maxsumai, 
Uttediai,  quartai,  Antoniai,  Augustai,  Juliai,  Agrippinai, 
invictai,  Picai,  reipublicai,  Octaviai,  Calidiai,  Priscai, 
Bonaij  deai,  Secundai,  Domitiai,  Cassiai,  Maximal,  Statiai, 
Severaij  Sextiliai,  Chrestaij  Ulpiai,  Scitai,  Pilumenai, 
Semproniai,  Gallai,  Petronai,  Tanniai,  Pobliciaij  Atticai, 
Rufriai,  Exoratai,  Manliai,  Didiai,  Egnatiai,  Flaviai, 
Philuminai,  Vitelliai,  Siatiai,  Cerriait  Magiai,  Muniai, 
Probai,  (L,  180,  181). 

From  the  verj^  latest  times  of  the  empire,  even,  Mr.  Corssen 
adduces,  colonial  for  the  genitive  and  locative,  and  Artemai, 
cojugai,  Januariai,  Mammulai  for  the  dative  (I.,  181). 

Less  frequently  Mr.  Corssen  finds  the  diphthong  ai  in  the 
ending  of  the  nominative  plural  of  a-stems ;  still  he  mentions 
haice,  tabelai,  datai,  eai,  literaive,  in  inscriptions  from  the 
time  of  the  empire,  quai,  arai. 

The  spelling  ai,  however,  even  from  the  time  of  the  senatus- 
consultum  de  Bacchanalibus,  that  is  from  the  time  of  the 
Syrian  war,  does  not  seem  to  have  been  the  only  one  in  use, 
but  we  frequently  find  with  it  the  spelling  ae,  not  only  in  the 
same  inscriptions,  but  even  in  the  same  word  in  different 
places  ;  also  in  inscriptions  from  the  time  of  the  empire.  In 
the  law  documents  from  the  times  of  the  Gracchi  to  the  end 
of  the  republic,  the  spelling  ai  occurs  only  in  a  few  cases,  but 
from  the  time  of  Augustus,  and,  especially  of  Claudius,  it 
again  appears  more  frequently  principally  in  the  dative,  less 
frequently  in  the  genitive,  and  only  very  rarely  in  any  other 
case. 

From  these  facts  Mr.  Corssen  concludes  (L,   182,   183), 


DIPHTHONGS.  105 

"  If  since  the  time  of  the  Macedonian  and  Syrian  war,  there 
is  a  vacillation  in  the  spelling  of  ai  and  ae ;  if,  from  the  time 
of  the  Gracchi  to  that  of  Caesar,  the  spelling  ae  prevails  in 
the  completest  and  most  important  monuments,  the  Romans 
must  have  begun  to  pronounce  ae  [e  in  there  and  ai  in  pair~\, 
as  early  as  the  second  century  before  Christ,  and  this  pronun- 
ciation must  have  been  universally  adopted  during  the  rise  of 
the  Roman  literature.  Lucilius,  indeed,  proposes  to  write  ai 
in  the  genitive  and  dative  singular,  and  ae  in  the  plural,  but 
the  above-named  law-documents  indicate  that  his  proposition 
was  not  adopted.  It  is,  however,  very  evident  that,  at  the 
time  of  Lucilius,  it  was  universally  pronounced  like  a  in  fare 
or  ai  in  pair,  and  that  he  merely  wished  to  establish  this  dis- 
tinction for  the  eye." 

The  same  weakening  of  the  diphthong  ai  into  ae  is  shown 
in  inscriptions  in  the  genitives  of  female  names  in  aes  [first 
perhaps  pronounced  ah-es  as  a  diphthong],  e.  g.  Pesceniaes, 
Liaudicaes,  Her  aes,  Diavaes,  Antoniaes,  Statiliaes,  Octa- 
viaes,  Pylaes,  Faeniaes,  Secundaes,  Juliaes,  Flaviaes,  Cer- 
viaes,  Corneliaes,  Calaes,  Agrippinaes,  Lepidaes,  Musaes, 
Helenaes,  Saturninaes,  Midaes,  Proculaes,  Aquiliaes, 
Basillaes,  Decimiaes,  Priscaes,  Faustinaes,  Liciniaes, 
Livillaes,  Sabidiaes,  Sextiliaes. 

Mr.  Corssen  explains  this  genitive  in  aes,  together  with 
that  in  as  which  was  in  use  among  the  oldest  poets,  and 
that  in  ai  which  we  have  mentioned  above,  by  saying,  that  all 
three  were  derived  from  the  original  form  a-is,  which  consists 
of  the  mark  of  the  genitive,  viz. :  s,  affixed  to  the  stem  ending 
in  a  by  means  of  the  copula  i.  This  form  a-is,  he  says,  was 
originally  pronounced  in  two  syllables,  viz. :  a-is,  from  a-is 
was  first  obtained,  by  the  dropping  of  s,  the  form  ai,  which 
we  find  in  Ennius,  Plautus,  Terence  and  Yirgil  in  words  like 
the  following,  viz  :  longdi,  aqudi,  terrdi,  comediai,  materidi, 
aurtii,  pictdi,  etc  ,  and  by  their  coalition  into  a  diphthong  was 
produced  the  usual  ai,  which  was  afterwards  weakened  into 
ae;  or  else  the  sign  of  the  genitive,  viz.  :  s  was  preserved,  and 


106  DIPHTHONGS. 

the  vowels  a~i  were  blended  into  ae,  so  as  to  form  the  genitive 
ending  aes ;  or,  finally,  the  copula  i  was  rejected,  and  the 
genitives  in  as  took  their  origin,  e.  g.,  terras,  escas,  deivas, 
Corniscas,  monetas,  Alcumenas,  Latonas,  fortunas,  vias, 
and  familias  [which  afterwards,  survived  in  the  forms  pater- 
familias, mater -familias,  etc.]  (I.,  184). 

[We  have  nothing  to  say  against  this  explanation  of  the 
genitive  in  as,  but  we  think,  that  it  may  just  as  well  have 
arisen  by  the  simple  affixing  of  the  sign  of  the  genitive,  viz., 
s,  to  the  final  a  of  the  a-declension  which  was  originally  long  ; 
comp.  Bopp^  Yergleich.  Gramm.,  §  192,  p.  392.  And  as 
regards  the  genitive  in  aes,  which,  according  to  our  opinion, 
continued  in  the  mouth  of  the  people,  but,  like  ae  in  general, 
was  weakened  into  e  (as  is  shown  by  inscriptions  of  the  third 
century  after  Christ,  e.  g.  provincies,  restitutes,  Aginees, 
Brimnes,  Julies,  Veranilles,  Prisces,  Selentioses,  Victories, 
Benignes,  Egnaties,  aeternes,  Minerbes,  Faustines,  L,  188), 
it  may  just  as  well  have  been  a  weakened  a -form  of  the 
Sanscr.  dy-ds,  e.  g.  dsvdy-ds,  equds  (equa-as,  equa-es),  of 
the  mare.] 

"Still,"  Mr.  Corssen  continues  (L,  189),  "besides  this 
genitive  in  aes,  we  also  find,  in  contemporary  inscriptions, 
forms  in  ae,  and,  indeed,  when  two  words  agreeing  with  each 
other,  either  in  the  genitive  or  dative  case,  immediately 
follow  one  another,  we  find  one  written  with  AE,  and  the 
other  with  E,  e.  g.  in  the  dative,  Vejanae  Rumne,  Impiae 
Juste,  Caesiae  Prime,  Munatiae  Modestine,filiae  dulcissime, 
Anniae  Victorine,  Titiae  Lucide,  bonae  femine,  Cominiae 
Felicissime,  Pifigiliae  Prime,  Polliae  Prime,  Otaciliae 
sanctissime ;  in  the  genitive,  mire  sapientiae,  Coccejae 
Severe,  Vitae  nostre ;  in  the  dative,  again,  Nepotille  filiae, 
Fructuose  filiae,  Elate  Juliae,  Felicule  filiae,  etc.  ;  and  in 
the  genitive,  bone  memoriae,  Caediciaes  Prisces  (I.,  189), 
Mr.  Corssen  says,  that  in  thus  retaining  ae  in  one  of  the  two 
words,  they  were  perhaps  [?]  actuated  by  an  unconscious 
desire  not  to  destroy  the  ending  of  the  case  in  both  words ; 


DIPHTHONGS.  107 

still,  this  desire,  even,  in  the  course  of  time,  was  no  longer 
sufficient  to  preserve  ae,  as  we  see  from  the  following  ex- 
amples :  in  the  dative  case,  Julie  felicissime,  Luc erine  juste, 
Primille  filie,  Tulliane  Marcelle,  Saecidie  Fortunate,  filie 
dulcissime,  filie  benemerentissime,  Ulpie  Severine,  femine 
dulcissime,  Mucassenie  pientissime,  sanctissime,  pientis- 
sime,  pie  nate,  Decimine  alumne,  Domine  filie,  mee  pudi- 
cissime  Jovine  Domitie,  Varene  Marcelle.  Nevertheless, 
as  late  as  the  time  of  Constantine  the  Great,  when  the  diph- 
thong ai  had  long  passed  into  e,  there  were  still  some  people 
who  wrote  ai,  in  the  old  fashion,  as  in  colonial. 

In  the  older  Oscan,  also,  the  decided  i-sound  of  the  diph- 
thong was  weakened  into  an  intermediate  one  between  e  and 
i,  [we  deny  that  the  i  of  the  diphthong  ai  ever  had  a  decided 
i-sound ;  see  our  remarks  on  the  pronunciation  of  this  diph- 
thong at  the  end  of  this  article,]  which  in  the  younger 
Oscan  became  ae ;  Old  Osc.  Herukinae  (Lat.  Erycinae),  Old 
Osc.  viai,  locat.  (Lat.  viae — in  via),  Old-Osc.  mefiai,  locat. 
(Lat  mediae  =  in  media),  New  Osc.  Bansae(L&t.  Bantiae), 
New  Osc.  suae,  Old  Osc.  svai,  etc.  (I.,  191).  In  the  Uin- 
brian  the  diphthongs  ai,  oi,  ei,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  been 
blended  into  e,  e.  g.  Umbr.  Kvestur,  Lat.  quaestor,  quaistor, 
Osc.  kvaistur ;  in  the  dative  singular,  Umbr.  ase,  Lat.  araey 
etc.;  in  the  ablative  plural,  Umbr.  tekuries,  Lat.  decuriis. 
Umbr.  asecetes,  Lat.  insectis,  which  correspond  to  the  Latin 
nuyes  for  nugais ;  also,  Umbr.  pre,  Lat.  prae,  Old-Latin 
prai,  Osc.  prae;  Umbr.  pre-pa,  Lat.  prae  quam ;  Urabr. 
prehabia,  Lat.  praehibeat,  praebeat ;  Umbr.  sve  (Lat.  si), 
New  Osc.  suae,  Old  Osc.  svai;  Umbr.  svepis  (Lat.  siquis), 
New  Osc.  suaepis,  etc.,  cfr.  Aufrecht  and  Kirchhoff,  Umbr. 
Sprachdenkm,  p.  46.  Ill,  114,  115,  161;  Corssen,  I.,  191. 
In  the  Yolscan,  also,  e  is  found  instead  of  ae,  ai,  e.  g.  Yolsc. 
Vesune,  Lat.  Vesunae,  Vesunai ;  Yolsc.  se,  Umbr.  sve, 
Lat.  si,  New  Osc.  suae,  Old  Osc.  svai ;  Yolsc.  sepis,  Umbr. 
svepis,  New  Osc.  suaepis. 

The  diphthong  ai,  however,  was  not  only  obscured  into  e 
10 


108  DIPHTHONGS. 

but  also  into  i  in  machine,  as  in  the  ablatives  of  a-stems,  e.  g. 
viis  for  viais  ;  also  in  the  preposition  prae,  in  which  the  old 
form  prai  was  not  only  obscured  into  prae  and  pre,  but  also 
into  i,  e.  g.  in  pri-us  for  prai-ius,  pri-mus  for  prai-mus, 
pri-scus  for  pra-ius-cus,  pri-die  for  prai-die,  pri-dem  for 
prai-dem,  pri-vus  for  prai- v us. 

In  compounds  the  diphthong  ai  is  weakened  into  i,  e.  g. 
collido  from  Zaecfo  (laido),  occido  from  caedo,  iniquus  from 
aequus,  inquiro  from  quaero,  existumo  from  aestumo,  dis- 
tisum  and  pertisum  from  distaesum  and  pertaesum  (taedet). 
«The  sound  of  this  J  was  the  clear  sound  of  t,  inclining  to  e, 
which  in  the  ante-Augustan  age  was  expressed  by  ei  as  in 
vieis,  taboleis,  incoleis,  causeis  (I.,  193).  Thus  the  original 
Italic  suffix  aijo,  which  still  appears  in  the  Osc.  Pompaiians, 
in  Italic  names  dwindled  down  to  aejo,  eijo,  ejo,  ijo,  ijo,  as 
well  as  to  aio,  aeo,  eo,  io,  i,  e.  g.  Annaejus,  Anaia,  Annaeus, 
Annejus,  Anneus,  Annius,  Annius.  So,  in  the  third  century 
after  Christ,  the  same  name  is  written  Mamaea,  Mammea, 
Mammia  The  diphthong  ai,  therefore,  could  be  reduced 
even  to  a  short  i  (L,  193). 

[As  regards  the  pronunciation  of  the  diphthong  ai,  it  is  no 
matter  of  immediate  importance  for  us  to  know  it,  inasmuch 
as,  in  the  classic  Latin,  it  has  universally  passed  over  into  ae 
or  6,  and  in  a  few  instances  into  i,  and  is  only  left  in  aitt  ain, 
etc.,  where  it  is  no  diphthong,  but  is  obtained  by  the  rejection 
of  j  or  g  and  pronounced  in  two  syllables.  Still,  it  is  our 
opinion,  that  it  was  sounded  like  the  English  ai  in  aisle,  and 
the  German  ai  in  Kaiser,  while  the  diphthong  ei,  so  long  as 
it  was  a  diphthong,  was  probably  pronounced  like  the  Greek 
ft,  i.  e.  like  the  English  ei  in  height,  or  like  the  German  ei  in 
Seite.  Our  grounds  for  this  assumption  are  these,  that  in 
the  diphthong  ai  in  aisle,  and  Germ,  ai  in  Kaiser,  the  last 
sound  in  which  the  diphthong  terminates  is  not  i  in  machine 
but  e  in  ell  (or  a  in  ale),  and  the  diphthong  ai  in  reality  is 
composed  of  the  two  sounds  a  in  far  and  e  in  ell,  viz.  ah-#t 
although  in  Latin,  Greek  and  German  and  in  the  English 


DIPHTHONGS.  109 

word  aisle  it  is  spelled  ai;  while  ei  in  height  really  terminates 
in  i  in  machine  or  caprice.  In  taking  this  view  of  the 
matter,  we  can  very  readily  see,  why  the  diphthong  ai  in 
Latin  was  generally  weakened  into  ae  and  into  e  (e  in  ell  and 
a  in  ale),  and  the  diphthong  ei,  probably,  into  a  long  I  in 
caprice,  and,  especially,  into  the  intermediate  sound  between 
e  and  i ;  for  in  both  these  cases,  as  in  an  and  ou,  the 
first  members  of  the  diphthongs  were  simply  absorbed  by 
their  second  members.  Thus,  when  the  second  member  of 
the  diphthong  ai  began  to  preponderate  and  to  manifest  its 
true  nature,  viz.  e  in  ell,  the  Romans  no  longer  spelled  it  ai 
but  ae,  and  when  the  process  of  absorption  was  consummated, 
it  was  not  only  spelled  ae,  but  also  e.  The  reason  why  the 
Romans  still  continued  to  spell  it  ae,  even  after  the  vowel  a 
had  been  absorbed  by  e,  was  this,  because  in  the  first  period 
of  absorption,  in  the  mouth  of  the  educated,  there  was  still 
some  trace  of  the  original  a  in  far  left  in  the  e,  which  gave  to 
it  the  peculiar  sound  of  ai  in  pair  and  e  in  there,  and  distin- 
guished it  from  the  regular  Latin  e,  which  was  pronounced 
like  e  in  ell  and  then,  and  a  in  fate.  In  the  mouth  of  the 
common  people,  however,  it  turned  early  into  the  sound  of  e 
in  ell  and  then,  or  a  in  fate,  and  during  the  decline  of  the 
Roman  empire,  this  pronunciation  became  universal. — As 
regards  the  diphthong  ei,  Mr.  Corssen  has  proved  conclu- 
sively (see  article  on  diphthong  ei),  that,  wherever  it  is 
found  in  the  inscriptions  handed  down  to  us,  it  is  no  longer  a 
diphthong,  but  represents  the  intermediate  sound  between  e 
in  ell,  and  i  in  is  ;  he  expresses  a  belief,  however,  that  in 
the  oldest  times,  from  which  there  are  no  records  left,  it  was 
certainly  a  diphthong.  This  is  our  belief,  and  our  argument 
in  favor  of  its  having  sounded  like  ei  in  height  is  drawn  by 
analogy  from  the  other  diphthongs ;  for  if  ae,  which  is  an 
intermediate  sound  between  a  in  far  and  e  in  ell,  is  derived 
from  the  diphthong  ai  or  rather  ah-e,  and  the  fuller  and 
obscure  sound  of  o  (by  which  Mr.  Corssen  can  mean  no  other 
than  that  of  o  in  off,  in  which  there  is  a  slight  admixture  of  a  — 


110  DIPHTHONGS. 

in  far),  is  that,  which  is  obtained  by  the  absorption  of  the 
diphthong  au  or  rather  ah-o  (see  article  on  o,  pag.  83),  we 
conclude  that  the  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i,  which 
has  subsequently  been  represented  by  the  sign  El,  in  most 
cases  originated  from  an  absorption  of  the  diphthong  ei 
(Engl.  ei  in  height),  and  that  this  very  intermediate  sound, 
represented  by  EI,  exhibits  the  diphthong  ei  in  its  first  stage 
of  absorption,  before  the  second  member,  viz.  i,  had  fully 
gained  the  ascendency,  just  as  ae  represented  the  diphthong 
ai  in  its  first  stage  of  absorption,  before  the  second  member, 
viz.  e  in  ell  or  a  in  ale  had  perfectly  absorbed  the  a.  After  a 
diphthong  had  once  been  reduced  to  a  simple  vowel,  its 
sound,  like  that  of  any  other  simple  vowel,  could  be  still  more 
modified  and  obscured ;  thus  the  diphthong  ai,  after  being 
absorbed  by  its  second  member  e  in  ell,  could  even  be  obscured 
into  l,  as  we  have  seen  above.] 

Oi 

The  diphthong  oi  was  reduced,  at  an  early  period,  into  oe, 
but  it  remained  still  intact  at  the  time  from  which  our  oldest 
inscriptions  have  been  handed  down  to  us.  In  these  inscrip- 
tions we  find  the  following  forms,  viz.,  oino,  oina,  oenus  for 
unus,  oinvorsei  for  universi,  oenigenos  for  unigenos,  noenum 
(neunum=non)jploirume  (plurime),ploera  (plura),foide- 
ratei  (foederati),  foidere  (foedere),  moeniundae,  moenio 
(munio),  admoenio,  conmoenio  (communio),  comoinem 
(communem),  moinicipieis  (municipiis),  moinicipiove,  im- 
moenis  (immunis),  Poinicia,  Poenicas  (Punicus),  poeniceo, 
poeniceum,  oitile  (utile,)  oisus  (usus),  oetantur,  oeti(uti), 
oesus  (usus)  ;  coiravit,  coeravit,  coiraverunt,  coerave- 
runt,  coerarunt,  coir  aver  e,  coeravere,  coir  aver,  coer- 
aver.,  coeret,  coeratori,  coerandi  all  from  euro;  moiro, 
moiros,  moer[um~],  moeros,  moeris  (muris) ;  coiperit 
(coeperit) ;  loidos,  loedos  (ludos)  ,*  loebertatem  (libertatem)  ; 
•  loebesum  (liber  urn),  Coilius,  Coilio,  oboedientem.  Thus 


DIPHTHONGS.  Ill 

in  very  old  monuments  we  even  find  oe  instead  of  oi.  The 
restorers  of  the  '  Columna  Rostrata  *  of  Duellius  would  cer- 
tainly not  have  written  Poenicas,  unless  they  had  known 
that  at  the  time  of  the  Punic  war  it  was  thus  written.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  two  oldest  of  the  epitaphs  of  the  Scipios 
and  the  '  senatusconsultum  de  Bacchanalibus  '  only  show  oi. 
After  the  war  of  the  Cimbri  and  the  time  of  Marius  the 
spelling  oe  is  also  found  in  law-documents,'  superscriptions, 
epitaphs  and  other  public  writings,  without  superseding,  how- 
ever, entirely  the  old  spelling  oi ;  for,  although  this  became 
gradually  obsolete,  it  is  still  found  occasionally  in'inscriptions, 
dating  from  the  time  of  Caesar.  The  diphthong  oi  was  there- 
fore, in  stem-syllables,  even  at  the  time  of  the  Punic  war,  so 
similar  to  the  sound  of  oe,  that  people  were  doubtful  whether 
to  write  oi  or  oe.  In  the  vulgar  language  oe  was  pronounced. 
[Mr.  Corssen  means  here  the  sound  of  oe  in  German, 
which  sounds  like  eu  or  oeu  in  French,  and  somewhat  like  i  . 
in  bird,  or  u  in  hurt],  while  in  documents  and  epitaphs  the 
old-fashioned  spelling  oi  was  retained,  as  is  shown  in  the 
'  Senatusconsult.  de  Bacch.,'  and  the  epitaphs  of  the  Scipios. 
Hence  Lucilius  wrote  noenum,  Accius  macros,  immoenos, 
oboedire, — with  respect  to  this  last  word,  and  also,  coirare, 
coerare  (curare),  see  Corssen,  I.,  197. 

As  regards  the  diphthong  oi,  in  the  terminations  of  the  in- 
flections, it  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  datives  populoi  [6^ 
for  6^uwt,  6*7,1*01,  ot'xoi  for  ol'x<p,  cf.  xvxa.a>,]  Romanoi,  quoi  for 
cui,  hoi-ce,  hoi-c  (huic).  By  the  interpretation  of  Vahlen, 
the  form  Mettoi  Fubettoi  in  Bnnius,  is  also  admitted  now  as  a 
dative.  The  oldest  form  of  the  ablative  and  dative  plural  of 
o-stems,  in  the  Latin  language,  is  preserved  to  us  in  a  very 
old  inscription,  in  cnatois  suois.  But  in  the  very  ancient 
'Carmen  Saliare  •  we  find  a  nominative  plural  in  oe,  viz., 
"  Pilumnoe  poploe,"  which  is  interpreted,  "  Eomani  pilis 
assueti ;"  there  the  nominative  oi  is  not  only  weakened  into 
oe,  but  it  has  likewise  lost  the  s  of  the  plural ;  we,  also,  find 
li  Fescemnoe"  which  according  to  Festus,  means  "  qui  de- 
10* 


112  DIPHTHONGS. 

pellere  fascinum putabantur ."  In  another  place,  moreover, 
we  find  oloes  for  illis,  prwicloes  for  primculis  (privis). 
The  weakening  of  oi  into  oe  in  the  terminations  of  inflections 
thus  commenced  in  the  earliest  times.  But  the  process  of 
weakening  was  carried  on  still  further  and  oi  was  even  ob- 
scured into  u  and  i  (in  the  suffixes  of  cases  it  was  weakened 
into  i),  e.  g. 

oi.  oe.  u. 

loidosj  loedos,  ludunt,  ludeis, 

oino,  oenus,  unum, 

ploirume,  ploera,  plures, 

moinicipium,  inmoenis,  municipiist 

oitile,  oetier,  utier,  etc.,  (I.,  199, 200). 

As  early  as  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  we  find  ludum  together 
with  coiravit,  but  we  meet  again  with  loidos  and  loedus  as 
late  as  the  war  of  the  Cimbri ;  in  the  '  lex  Thoria '  we  find 
oincij  oitantur,  together  with  unum,  unius.  In  a  law  of 
extortion  of  the  same  year  we  read  municipii,  while  the 
Thorian  law  has  preserved  moinicipieis,  moinicipiove.  In 
inscriptions  dating  from  the  times  of  the  Jugurthan  war,  we 
find  procurandae,  coeraverunt,  coiraverunt.  On  stones  of 
Capua  are  written  murum,  and  likewise  coeraver.,  loedos; 
on  inscriptions  dating  from  the  time  of  Caesar,  ludus,  muni- 
cipio,  together  with  moerum,  coeravere,foedere  &n&foidere. 
Hence  from  the  times  of  the  Gracchi  u  is  found  together  with 
oi  and  oe,  and  at  the  period  of  the  war  with  the  Cimbri  the 
vacillation  has  reached  its  utmost  point.  Afterwards  oi  and 
oe  rapidly  became  obsolete  and  u  is  used  in  their  stead  ;  the 
sound  oe  is  retained  in  the  classic  Latin  only  in  a  very  few 
words,  e.  g.  in  moenia,  together  with  munire,  poena  with 
punire,  and  also  poenire,  Poenus  and  Punicus,  etc. 

The  transition  of  oi  into  u  Mr.  Corssen  explains  by  means 
of  the  dative-form  Janui  which  was  found  by  Yarro  in  a  law 
from  the  time  of  the  kingdom.  In  this  form  he  regards  the 
final  o  of  the  stem  as  assimilated  into  u,  through  the  follow- 


DIPHTHONGS.  113 

ing  i,  because  the  sound  of  u,  according  to  the  position  of 
the   organs  of  speech  is   nearer  to  i  than  o.     In  the   same 
manner    he  holds,  hui-c  was    obtained  from    hoi-c  and   cui 
from    quoi.     The   combination    id,  afterwards,  merged    very 
easily  into  u  :  this  he  proves  by  the  genitives  of  the  u-stems, 
as  victus,  gradus,  anus,  ritus,  quaestus,  compared  with  the 
older  forms  victuis,  graduix,  anuis,  rituis,  quaestuis. — Mr. 
Corssen  admits  that  the  weakening  of  oi  into  u  through  the 
mediate  form  of  ui  appears  only  in  the  above  three  forms  of 
the   dative,  viz.,   Janui,  huic,  cui,  and   that   usually   before 
passing  into  u  it  is  changed  into  oe,  from  this  into  the  inter- 
mediate sound  between  i  and  u,  viz.,  French  u  or  Germ,  u, 
and  thence  finally  into  u  ;  but  we  object  to  his  mode  of  ex- 
plaining the  transition  of  oi  into  oe.     Mr.  C.  says  that  i  in 
oi,  through  the  influence  of  the  preceding  o  became  assim- 
ilated into  e  (Engl.  e  in  ell),  because,  according  to  the  position 
of  the  organs  of  speech,  e  in  ell  is  more  intimately  related  to 
o  in  hole,  than  i  in  is  or  machine  ;   and  that  i  in  is,  after  it 
became  thus  assimilated  to  o  in  hole,  became  blended  with  it 
into  the  intermediate  sound  between  o  in  hole  and  e  in  ell, 
viz.,  Germ,  o  or  French,  eu.     This  explanation  sounds  plaus- 
ible, but  we  object  to  it  on  the  following  grounds  : 

Mr.  Corssen,  throughout  the  whole  discussion  of  the  diph- 
thongs, labors  under  the  general  disadvantage  of  regarding 
the  sounds  of  the  vowels  by  which  they  are  represented  in 
writing,  as  the  constituent  elements  of  the  diphthongs  them- 
selves. It  is  natural  to  think  so,  but  a  careful  analysis  of 
the  several  diphthongs  teaches  us  otherwise,  and  especially  so 
in  the  present  instance.  The  vowels  o  hi  hole  and  i  in  is, 
have  no  share  whatever  in  the  sound  of  the  diphthong  ex- 
pressed by  oi  in  toil  and  oy  in  boy.  The  first  member  of  it 
is  a  in  all  or  o  in  off,  and  the  second  member  e  in  ell;  such 
is  the  sound  of  oi  in  English,  and  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  it  sounded  differently  in  Latin.  Now,  when,  in 
the  course  of  time,  the  second  member  of  the  diphthong 
preponderated,  it  was  natural  that  the  Romans  should  no 


114:  DIPHTHONGS. 

longer  spell  it  oi  but  oe,  and  after  it  had  entirely  absorbed 

the  first  member,  the  spelling  oe  was  retained,  in  order  to  show 

that  the  sound  obtained  was  not  a  clear  e  in  ell  or  a  in  ale, 

but  still  partook  somewhat  of  the  nature  of  its  first  member,  a 

in  all;  as  has  been  the  case  with  all  the  other  diphthongs. 

The  sound  of  oe,  which  was  produced  in  this  manner,  was 

that  of  the  German  o,  or  the  French  oeu  and  eu,  the  nearest 

approximation  to  which,  in  English,  is  the  sound  of  i  in  bird 

arid  u  in  hurt.     After  continuing  for  some  time  in  this  state, 

the  process  of  weakening  was  carried  on  still  further,  and  oe 

(Germ.  6,  French  oeu)  was  obscured  into  the  intermediate 

sound  between  i  in  is  and  u  in  rude,  which  exists  in  the 

French   u   and   Germ.    u.     This   intermediate   sound,  which 

could  not  be  well  represented  by  the  Romans  in  writing  in 

all  words  where  oi  was  weakened  into  u,  was  spoken  and 

heard,  according  to  Mr.   Corssen,  at  the  time  of  the  Gracchi 

and  the  war  with  the  Cimbri ;  hence  the  great  confusion  of  oi, 

oe,  and  u,  at  that  time ;   even  as  the  Greek  v,  which  had  a 

kindred  sound,  was  not  only  represented  by  v  or  u  and  i,  but 

also  by  oe  in  Hoelas,  soenephebis,  Froegiae  ^p-uyuu.     From 

this    intermediate    sound   which   we   will   represent   by    the 

German  u,  the  diphthong  oi  was  finally  weakened  into  u. — 

With  regard  to  the  sound  of  a  in  all,  which  we  may  represent 

by  the  Swedish  sign  a,  that  of  oe  (Germ,  o,  French  eu),  and 

u  (French  u),  we  may  observe  that  they  are  related  to  each 

other  in  the  same  way  as  a  in  far,  e  in  ell,  and  i  in  is ;  and 

that  just  as  well,  as  a  or  ai  could  be  weakened  into  e  and 

thence  into  i,  so  also  a  or  oi,  could  be  obscured  into  oe  or  o, 

and  thence  into  u,  from  which,  finally  it  passed  over  into  u  in 

rude. 

The  whole  process  by  which  the  diphthong  oi  was  weak- 
ened into  u,  may  thus  be  expressed  by  the  following  scheme  : 
ploira,     ploera,      plura,    plura,      conf.    Ital.    plurale, 
oisus,      oesus,        usus,       usus,  "         "         uso, 

moiros,  moeros,     muros,    muros,        "         "         muraglia, 
coiravit,  coeravit,   curavit,  curavit,       "         "        euro. 


DIPHTHONGS.  115 

The  diphthong  oi,  however,  was  not  only  weakened  into  u, 
but  even  in  the  earliest  times  was  reduced  to  i,  e.  g.  vicus      ^ 
together  with  olxo$,  vinum  with  olvo$,  fidus,  Enn.  Yarr.  foedus,    ''"    /• 
foidus.    The  old  superlative  forms  pl-us-ima,  pl-is-ima,  plo- 
ur-uma,  plo-ir-  ume  are  all  descended  from  the  original  form, 
plo-ius-uma  ;  the  form  plisima,  however,  is  most  immediately 
derived  from  ploisima.     Moreover,  the  diphthong  oi  was  ob- 
scured into  i,  in  the  most  ancient  times,  in  the  cases  of  the 
o -declension.    Upon  old  Latin  earthen  vessels,  probably  before 
the  first  Punic  war,  we  find  the  genitive  forms  Saturni,  Volcani, 
Keri,  Pomponi;  upon  the  very  old  inscription  of  the  '  colum- 
barium' of  the  Yigna  Soraaschi,    kaili  for  coeli,  and  on  the 
epitaphs  of  the  Scipios,  Barbati  (I.,  202,  203).    The  letter  / 
of  these  forms  is  the  intermediate  sound  between  /  and  JE, 
which  was  also  rendered  by  EL     This  sound,  therefore,  arose 
from  oi,  in  all  instances,  where  it  occurs  in  the  termination  of 
cases  of  o-stems,  e.  g. 
Gen.  Sing,  populei, 
Nona.  Plur.  oinvorsei,  ploirume,    plurimi, 

libereis,      Modies,       ministris, 
Dat.  Plur.  libreis.  liberis, 

Abl.  Plur.   soveis  suis  (see  diphthong  JEi). 

Compare  these  cases  with  those  forms,  where  the  original 
oi  was  preserved  or  simply  changed  into  oe,  e.  g. 

oi.  oe.  e.  ei.  i. 

Nom.  PI.  pilumnoe,  ploirume,  oinvorsei,  universi. 

poploet       modies,      libereis,     magistris. 
Dat.  &   ")         .         7 
Abl  PI  \  suols>     oioes,  soveis,       suis, 

cnatois,  privicloes. 

From  these  schemes  it  is  made  very  evident  through  what 
changes  the  declension  of  o-  stems  has  passed  since  the  most 
ancient  times,  before  the  original  Italic  forms  of  the  genit. 
sing,  [o-jus,  o-jt's]  o-is,  nom.  plur.  o-is,  dat.  &  abl.  plur.  o-is, 


116  DIPHTHONGS. 

had   dwindled  down  to  the  forms  i,-i,-is,-is,  which  are  ex- 
hibited in  the  classical  period  of  literature. 

[The  change  of  the  diphthong  oi  into  i,  Mr.  Corssen,  again 
explains  by  the  assimilation  of  o  into  u  before  i,  as  in  Janui, 
huic,  cui,  and  the  subsequent  merging  of  ui  into  i,  as  in 
quaesii,  senati,  parti,  for  quaestuis,  senatuis,  partuis. — To 
this  explanation  we  object  on  the  following  grounds,  viz  , 
that,  after  the  vowels  o  in  hole  and  i  in  is  had  become  merged 
in  the  diphthong  oi,  they  lost  their  original  sound,  inasmuch, 
as  the  diphthong  oi,  upon  being  analyzed,  no  longer  presents 
to  us  the  sound  of  o  in  hole  and  i  in  is,  but  those  of  a  in  all 
and  e  in  ell,  and,  that,  inasmuch,  as  all  the  modifications  of 
the  diphthongs  were  brought  about  in  the  living  language  of 
the  people,  where,  in  the  diphthong  oi  or  rather  d-e,  the 
vowels  o  and  i  were  no  longer  contained,  we  must  give  up  the 
idea,  that,  previous  to  the  absorption  of  o  by  it  it  was  changed 
into  u  by  the  influence  of  the  latter.  The  only  way  in  which 
o  can  be  imagined  to  have  been  assimilated  to  u  by  the  follow- 
ing i,  is,  by  supposing,  that,  in  the  oldest  period  of  the  lan- 
guage, the  vowels  o  and  i  had  not  yet  merged  into  a  diphthong, 
but  were  pronounced  separately,  in  two  syllables.  This  seems 
also  probable  in  the  case  of  the  dative  singular  ;  for  while  in 
all  the  other  cases  of  the  o-declension,  the  diphthong  oi  ap- 
pears obscured  into  it  in  the  dative  singular  alone  we  find  o, 
in  the  majority  of  cases,  ui  in  the  three  forms  Janui,  huic 
cui,  and  i  in  a  few  words  only,  as  in  illi,  soli,  ulli,  etc.  The 
dative  ending  in  o,  we  accordingly  explain  in  this  manner, 
that,  before  the  vowels  o  and  ihad  coalesced  into  a  diphthong, 
the  vowel  o  had  gained  such  a  preponderance,  as  to  assimi- 
late to  it  the  following  i  (comp.  the  Greek  'iota  subscript'  in 
drtp<j>  for  £«?pofc  [wt],  ot'xot  for  otxut  as  in  xv*xo>,  round  about.) 
For  the  dative  in  ui  we  accept  Mr.  Corssen's  explanation  with 
this  restriction,  that  the  assimilation  of  o  into  u  took  place  be- 
fore the  vowels  o  and  i  were  merged  into  a  diphthong  ;  and  in 
the  case  of  the  dative  ending  in  i,  we  also  admit,  that  ui  was 
blended  into  i,  after  it  had  first  passed,  according  to  Mr. 


DIPHTHONGS.  117 

Corssen,  through  the  intermediate  form  u.  We  are  also  willing 
to  admit  this  explanation  in  the  case  of  vicus  (otxo$),  vinum 
(oivos),  but  in  all  the  other  cases  of  the  o-declension,  with  the 
exception  of  the  dative  case,  viz.,  in  the  genitive  singular,  and  in 
the  nominative,  dative  and  ablative  plural,  we  maintain  that  the 
vowels  o  and  i  had  merged  in  a  diphthong,  and,  consequently 
lost  their  original  sound  ;  in  proof  of  which  we  adduce  the  fol- 
lowing forms,  viz.,  pilumnoe,  poploe,  oloes,  privicloeSj  where 
the  diphthong  oi  appears  in  its  first  stage  of  obscuration. 
The  process  itself  in  which  oe  was  further  developed  into  ?, 
we  explain  in  the  following  manner :  After  the  second  mem- 
ber of  the  diphthong  oi  or  rather  a-£  had  absorbed  the  first 
member  and  produced  with  it  the  mixed  form  oe  (Germ,  o, 
French  oeu  or  eu)  in  stems,  through  u,  it  was  generally 
weakened  into  u,  (see  page  114),  but  in  the  endings  of  cases 
and  in  a  few  stems,  it  succeeded  in  ridding  itself  completely 
of  the  admixture  of  the  first  member ;  hence  were  produced 
the  forms  ploirume,  modies,  and  the  stems  obedire  for 
oboedire,  pomerium  for  postmoerium ;  also  caelum  for 
coelum,  caeruleus  for  coeruleus,  and,  in  the  latest  period  of 
the  Latin,  in  all  those  words  where  the  diphthong  oi  remained 
in  its  first  stage  of  obscuration,  viz.,  coelum,  coena,  foedus, 
foetidus,  pcenitet,  etc.,  where  the  sound  oe  was  universally 
changed  into  that  of  e  in  ell.  In  the  endings  of  the  inflections 
however,  the  process  of  weakening  was  carried  on  still  farther, 
and  through  the  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i,  viz., 
El  in  oinvorsei,  libereis,  soveis,  the  diphthong  oi  was 
finally  weakened  into  i,  as  in  universi,  ministris,  suis,  etc.  ; 
thither  these  words  were  also  followed  by  a  few  stems,  viz., 
liberum  for  loebesum,  libertas  for  loebertas,  fidus  for  foedus, 
foidus. 

From  this  investigation  we  see,  that  the  diphthong  oi  has 
been  weakened  into  oe,  in  the  earliest  times,  in  the  endings 
of  inflections,  and,  after  the  Punic  war,  also  in  stems.  The 
obscuration  of  oi,  through  oe,  into  the  intermediate  sound 
between  e  and  i,  which,  in  the  oldest  times,  was  expressed 


118  DIPHTHONGS. 

either  by  I  or  E,  in  the  more  recent  times  by  El,  and  in  the 
latest  times  by  I,  dates  back  to  just  as  early  a  period.  The 
further  obscuration  of  this  diphthong  into  u,  in  steins,  is  of  a 
later  date ;  it  had  already  begun  at  the  time  of  Plautus,  it  was 
spread  more  and  more  during  the  period  of  the  Gracchi  and 
the  war  with  the  Cimbri,  and  seems  to  have  become  generally 
prevalent  soon  after  this  time,  while  oe  was  retained  only  in  a 
limited  number  of  words.  In  the  later  Latin  vulgar  tongue 
this  oe  was  finally  reduced  to  a  clear  e  in  ell,  and  as  such 
passed  over  into  the  modern  Romance  tongues. 

EL 

The  results  of  the  investigations  of  Mr.  Ritschl  with  regard 
to  the  pronunciation  of  the  diphthong  ei,  Mr.  Corssen  reports 
in  the  following  words  : 

11  The  sound  represented  by  EI,  except  in  the  cases  of 
e-stems,  has  proceeded  from  the  diphthongs  ai,  oi,  ei,  and 
from  a  long  I  proper ;  but,  as  far  as  our  knowledge  of  the 
Old-Latin  reaches,  it  is  nowhere  any  longer  a  diphthong,  in 
which  the  first  member  is  the  sound  e,  and  the  second  that 
of  i,  but  it  is  simply  an  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i  ; 
hence,  also,  in  the  oldest  ivritings  it  is  marked  both  by  E  and 
J.  In  the  older  language  this  vowel  inclined  more  to  the 
sound  of  E  in  ell,  and  thus  it  was  still  sounded  at  the  time 
of  Augustus,  and  even  later,  in  the  mouth  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country.  In  the  mouth  of  the  educated,  however, 
during  the  classical  period  of  the  Roman  literature,  it  was 
pronounced  more  like  I  [in  machine,  or  is~\,  and  hence,  also, 
was  represented  by  /.  Those  places,  where  the  short  sound 
of  i  is,  sometimes,  represented  by  EI,  as  in  sibei,  or  seibi, 
faceiu\ndum~\,  are  to  be  regarded  as  mere  'lapsus  pennae  >. 
In  the  later  Roman  language  this  sound  in  some  cases  settled 
down  into  e,  and  in  this  form,  also,  it  has  passed  over  into 
the  Italian  language." 

Mr.  Corssen  is  perfectly  right  in  declaring,  that  the  question, 


DIPHTHONGS.  119 

whether  the  character  El  simply  represented  an  intermediate 
sound  between  e  and  i,  or  whether  it  also  indicated  a  diphthong 
in  which  both  the  sounds  of  e  and  i  were  heard  [i.  e.  Engl. 
diphthong  ei  in  height],  can  only  be  decided  on  the  ground 
of  the  inscriptions,  since  in  the  manuscripts  of  the  oldest  poets, 
in  consequence  of  later  emendations,  ei  was  either  not  pre- 
served at  all,  or  only  partially  so,  since  even  the  latest  editors, 
in  restoring  old  readings,  which  they  found  occasionally  pre- 
served, by  no  means  acted  in  a  uniform  manner.  On  this 
account  we  can  only  occasionally  call  into  aid  the  orthography 
of  the  manuscripts,  in  order  to  prove  points  which  have  been 
previously  established  by  the  inscriptions.  Mr.  Corssen, 
therefore,  bases  his  arguments  on  the  latest  minute  investi- 
gations of  inscriptions,  and,  especially,  upon  those  instituted 
by  Mommsen  aad  Ritschl,  who  have  opened  a  new  era  in 
this  department  of  philology ;  and  first  of  all  he  considers 
those  of  the  ante-Augustan  period,  in  which  ei  is  found  in  the 
stems  ;  they  are  the  following  : 

Deiv..,  deivas,  deivae,  deivinam,  eidus  for  idus,  leibertus, 
leibravit,  leibereis,  leiberique,  leiberei,  leiberorum,  leiberisve, 
leibereis,  leiberos,  leibertini,  Uibertate,  Seispctei,  eitur  for 
itur,  eire,  abei,  abeitur,  eis,  eit,  abei,  deicerent,  deico, 
deixistis,  deixerit,  deixerint,  deicere,  deicito,  deicet, 
deicundo,  deicunto,  deicei  for  dicit  deicit,  deixeritve,  exdei- 
ccndum,  exdeicatis,  inceideretis,  difeidens,  afleicta,  deilexit, 
Teiburtes,  Veicentinos,  meilia,  meilites,  Veiturios,  feil[ius'] 
for  Jilius,  ceivi  for  civi,  ceivis,  ceives,  ceivitate,  screiptus, 
conscreipteisve,  conscreiptumve,  proscreibeive,  leitisque  for 
litisque,  leisque,  leiterasve,  Teidia,  Peisidae,  preimus, 
preimum,  Preimae,  Preimus,  preivataque,  preivatae,  veivos, 
veivont,  veixit,  veitae,  veiginti,  veicus,  inveisa,  feient  for 
font,  deividunda,  erceiscunda  for  herciscunda,  ameiscrunt, 
promeisserit,  promeississet,  repromeississet,  eis,  eiei,  eidem, 
eidemque,  quei  for  quis,  quei  for  qui,  heic  for  hie. 

The  fact,  that  the  sound,  here  expressed  by  the  letters  ei, 
whenever  it  was  produced  by  the  intensifying  of  a  vowel,  or 
11 


120  DIPHTHONGS. 

the  weakening  of  the  fuller  diphthongs  ai  or  oi,  was  originally 
a  diphthong,  is  proved  by  the  cognate  tongues,  especially  the 
German,  Greek  and  Oscan.  Two  letters,  originally,  always 
represented  two  different  sounds,  but,  in  the  course  of  time, 
in  order  to  represent  intermediate  sounds  of  more  recent 
origin,  recourse  was  had  to  the  plan  of  writing  two  letters 
between  which  two  the  sound  in  question  was  found,  viz.  ei, 
ae,  oe.  The  question  now  is,  whether  the  character  El 
represented  a  diphthong  or  an  intermediate  sound,  at  the 
time,  to  which  our  written  monuments  date  back. — The  oldest 
forms  among  the  above  words  are  dew..,  on  a  stone  of  Pesaro, 
deivas,  on  a  very  old  inscription,  eidus,  on  the  inscription  of 
the  *  columbarium'  of  Somaschi ;  thus,  according  to  Mr. 
Corssen,  the  spelling  ei  occurs  even  at  the  time  of  the  Punic 
war.  However,  in  the  very  oldest  inscriptions,  a  long  I  is 
found  in  the  stem-syllables  of  the  following  words,  viz. 
militare,  filea,  filios,  Scipione,  Scipio,  hie,  qui,  primos, 
scriptum,  scribamus,  perscriptum,  scito,  primo,  primus, 
Vituriorum.  Thus,  on  the  old  monument  of  the  Furii,w&* 
written  militare,  and,  a  hundred  years  later,  on  a  mile-stone 
from  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  meilia  ;  on  the  sarcophagi  of 
the  Scipios  we  find  hie  and  hec,  and,  on  later  inscriptions, 
heic  ;  in  one  of  the  epitaphs  of  the  Scipios  quei,  and  in  an 
inscription  of  the  same  period  que ;  on  the  '  cista*  of  Praeneste, 
and  on  one  of  the  oldest  sarcophagi  of  the  Scipios,  filea, 
filios,  and  more  than  a  century  later,  feilius. — By  comparing 
the  nominatives  hi-c,  he-c,  qui,  que,  with  their  sterns  ho-c, 
quo-,  it  follows,  that  these  nominative  forms  arose  by  the 
demonstrative  pronoun-stem  i  being  affixed  to  the  stems 
(comp.  ovtoai),  as  in  the  old  forms  cum-e  and  tam-e,  where  ?', 
as  in  all  other  cases,  when  it  was  a  final,  was  weakened  into 
e.  In  this  manner  were  obtained  the  forms  ho-ic  (this  one 
there)  and  quo-i  (which  one  there),  which,  by  obscuring  the 
diphthong  oi,  became  hie  and  hec,  qui  and  que.  The  two 
forms  of  spelling,  quei  and  qui,  which  occur  at  the  period  of 
the  earliest  inscriptions  of  the  Scipios,  thus  indicate,  that  e 


DIPHTHONGS.  121 

represented  the  very  same  sound,  obscured  from  the  diph- 
thong oi,  which  was  expressed  by  ei;  and,  inasmuch,  as  e 
represented  a  simple  sound,  and  not  a  diphthong,  we  must 
admit  the  same  thing  with  regard  to  ei.  Hence,  Mr.  Corssen 
very  justly  concludes,  that,  wherever,  in  the  stems  of  other 
words,  ei  represents  a  sound  obtained  by  the  intensifying  of 
the  vowel  or  from  the  diphthongs  ai  or  oi,  it  always  had  the 
same  sound  as  in  quei  and  quit  thus  an  intermediate  one 
between  e  and  i. — At  the  time  of  Yarro  and  Quintilian  the 
people  in  the  country  said  leber  instead  of  liber  (comp. 
loebertatem,  a-oi/fy),  vendemia  for  vindemia  (olvo$),  vella  for 
villa,  speca  for  spica  (I.,  210,  211). 

"  If,  in  the  oldest  times,"  Mr.  Corssen  observes  (I.,  211), 
"  the  people  in  the  provinces  and  in  the  country  pronounced 
'  ej  [in  ell'},  in  the  place  of  the  original  diphthong  oi,  we 
must,  hence,  conclude,  that  at  an  early  age,  also,  e  [in  ell'] 
was  in  vogue,  in  the  examples  quoted  immediately  above, 
in  the  mouth  of  the  rustic  population,  in  the  place  of  an 
original  oi,  and,  indeed,  as  early  as  the  time  of  the  Punic 
war,  when  hie  and  hec  were  both  pronounced  and  written 
instead  of  hoic,  and  qui  and  quei  for  quoi.  The  fact,  that, 
at  the  time  of  Lucilius,  the  character  ei  represented  nothing 
else  but  the  intermediate  sound  between  i  and  e,  has  also 
been  proved.  Now,  inasmuch,  as  the  greater  number  of  the 
inscriptions,  from  which  the  above  words,  in  which  the  stem- 
syllables  are  spelled  with  ei,  have  been  collected,  date  from 
the  above  periods,  it  follows,  that  we  are  not  justified,  in  any 
of  these  forms,  to  assume,  that  the  character  ei  was  pronounced 
as  a  diphthong." — The  following  investigation,  however, 
places  Mr.  Corssen's  assertion  beyond  any  doubt. 

In  the  derivative  syllables  of  nouns  ei  appears  only  in  the 
following  nouns,  viz.  mareitom  for  maritum,  peteita  for 
petUa,  fugiteivos,  ameicorum,  Cisalpeina,  peregreinos, 
(I.,  212);  but  in  still  older  inscriptions  we  find  aidiles, 
aidilis,  Quiri[na]t  parisuma,  whence  it  follows,  that,  at  the 
time  of  the  Punic  war,  the  simple  sound  of  i  in  machine  was 


122  DIPHTHONGS. 

heard  in  the  suffixes, — Hi, — ino, — isuma  ;  consequently,  that 
the  character  ei,  in  these  same  suffixes,  at  a  later  period,  only 
expressed  the  sound  of  i  in  machine,  inclining  to  e  in  ell. 
But,  this  same  sound,  as  it  appears,  was  not  heard  very  dis- 
tinctly in  these  suffixes,  inasmuch  as  they  were  generally  and 
regularly  spelled  with  i  (I.,  212). 

In  order  to  examine  the  spelling  of  ei,  in  the  termination 
of  inflections,  Mr.  Corssen  collects  the  following  verbal  forms ; 

1.  Third  person  singular,  present  subjunctive,  seit  for  sit. 

2.  Third  person  singular,  perfect   indicative,   redieit   for 
rediit,  possedeit  for  possedit,  and  venieit   for  veniit  (three 
times). 

3.  Second  person  singular,  perfect  indicative,  interieisti, 
gessistei,  restitistei. 

4.  First  person  singular,  perfect  indicative,  petiei,  (petii), 
fecei  (fed),  poseivei  (posivi,  posui),  conquaeisivei  (con- 
quisivi)  redideique  (reddidique). 

5.  Third  person  plural,  perfect  indicative,  composeiverunt, 
(composiverunt,  compos  uerunt) . 

6.  Present  infinitive,  active  voice,  audeire,  eire,  veneire. 

7.  Present  infinitive,   passive  voice,  solvei,  mittei,  darei, 
legei,  accipei,   utei,  fruei,  profiterei,  jierei,  ducei,  mittei, 
agei,  exportarei,  renuntiarei,  legarei,  tuerei,  restipularei, 
includei,   concipei,    judicareique,   praestarei,    possiderei, 
proscreibei,  reddeive,  deicei  (I.,  212.  213). 

None  of  the  inscriptions,  in  which  these  forms  occur,  date 
before  the  time  of  Lucilius  (150  before  Christ)  ;  but  the 
Plautian  forms  veis,  curabeis,  comedereis,  redieit,  furnish  us 
with  proofs,  that  the  spelling  El  was  used  in  books  at  an 
earlier  period.  In  the  oldest  inscriptions,  after  the  Punic 
war,  we  find  /  or  E  in  these  verbal  forms,  thus  fecid,  cepit, 
fuit,  fecit,  dedit,  fuise,  (fuisse),  compromesise  (compro- 
misisse),  dedise,  fecise,  arfaise  (adfuisse),  jousisent  (jus- 
sissent),  and  in  the  present  tense  subigit,  abdoucit  (Sc,  Barb.) 
but  E  in  dedet  (dedit),  dede  (dedit),  fuet  (fuit),  exemet 
(exemit),  cvpet,  ornavet,  and  after  the  time  of  Lucilius  and 

' 


DIPHTHONGS.  123 

the  Gracchi,  poscdet  for  post-edit,  fecet  for  fecit,  juset  (jussit), 
dixet.  Up  to  the  time  of  Augustus,  we  find  both  /and  E in 
verbal  forms,  but,  whenever  a  word  ends  in  t,  the  spelling  I  is 
by  far  more  general. 

From  the  vacillation  of  the  spelling  of  cepit,fuit  and  dedet, 
fuet,  in  the  sarcophagi  of  the  Scipios,  Mr.  Corssen  concludes, 
that  in  these  forms  the  intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i 
was  fully  developed,  and  that  in  the  mouth  of  the  country 
people  the  sound  e  in  ell  prevailed  as  in  leber  (liber),  vella 
(villa),  speca,  etc.,  which  sound  [we  add,  continued  among 
them,  throughout  the  whole  duration  of  the  Roman  empire, 
and  became  again  universally  dominant,  when,  by  the  decline 
of  the  refinement  of  the  cities,  the  language  of  their  inhabi- 
tants sank  down  again  to  the  level  of  the  rustic  population, 
and,  therefore,]  reappeared  again  in  these  verbal  forms,  in  the 
latest  Latin,  especially  in  inscriptions  of  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries,  as  in  vixet,  vixset  (twice),  vixse,  viset,  all  for  vixit ; 
obiet,  oviet  for  ob iit,  fecet,fece  for  fecit;  militavet,  curavet, 
and  also  in  the  present  forms,  scribet,  quiescet,  quescet,  ces- 
quet,  quiesce,  requiesquet,  requiecset,  requiiescet,  (I.,  214); 
however,  that  ei  in  poseit,  redieit,  posedeit,  really  described 
a  sound  which  was  long  by  nature,  has  been  proved  by  Mr 
Corssen  in  his  part  on  quantity. 

As  regards  Elin  the  endings  of  the  inflections  of  declen- 
sions, Mr.  Corssen  is  quite  right  in  separating  the  forms  of 
the  consonant  and  i-declension  from  those  of  the  a-  and  o- 
declension,  inasmuch,  as,  in  the  latter  only,  ei  appears  in  the 
place  of  an  original  ai  or  oi  (I.,  215).  Among  the  former, 
viz  :  the  consonant  and  i-declension,  we  find  the  following 
datives,  viz.  :  virtutei,  Marteit  Junonei,  Quiritei,  Herculei, 
Sispitei,  Vediovei,patrei,  leegei,  Jovei  (four  times),  heredeive, 
operei,  fraudei,  maiorei,  actionei,  praeconei,  redemtorei, 
urbei,  jurei,  captionei,  Venerei.  Among  these  the  forms 
virtutei  and  Martei  date  as  far  back  as  the  period  of  the  first 
Punic  war.  But  at  the  same  time  with  these  forms  in  ei  we 
also  find  datives  ending  in  i,  in  inscriptions,  as  Marti,  Jovi. 
11* 


124 


DIPHTHONGS. 


In  the  consonant  and  i-declension,  however,  the  spelling  e  in 
the  dative  predominates  most  decidedly  in  the  inscriptions, 
dating  from  that  ancient  period,  e.  g.  patre,  Junone  (together 
with  Seispitei,  Matri),  Matre,  Diove  (cfr.  Diiove,  Quint.  I., 
4,  17,  Mommsen,  Unterital.  Dial.  p.  255  [not  253],) 
Pisaurese,  [_Nov~]esede,  Mavrte,  Marie,  salute,  Hercle  ;  and 
from  a  later  period,  Victore  (together  with  Jovei),  jure, 
Hercule,  Jove,  lictore,  Pilemone,  fruge,  parenteve. 

If,  now,  we  compare  the  oldest  of  these  dative  forms,  viz. 
those  on  the  stones  of  Pesaro,  and  on  the  Old-Latin  earthen 
vessels,  with  the  much  rarer  spelling  of  Marti,  Jovi,  Martei, 
T/trtutei,  in  inscriptions  of  the  oldest  times,  it  appears,  that 
the  intermediate  sound,  in  these  forms,  as  well  as  in  all  the 
other  dative  forms  of  the  consonant  and  i-declension,  was 
Bounded  almost  like  e  in  ell,  and,  in  later  times  only,  received 
the  sound  of  i  in  machine.  Even  in  the  classical  period  of 
the  Roman  literature  we  find  the  two  forms  jure  and  aere. 
Jn  the  usual  dative  ending  of  u-  and  o-stems,  whose  genitive 
case  is  formed  in  ius,  we  also  find  the  spelling  ei,  e.  g. 
senatuei,  quoiei  for  cui,  quoieique,  eiei,  ipsei,  aleiue  (aliwe) 
iei  (1,  2,  215,  216).  Ablatives  with  this  ending  are  virtutei, 
fontei,  partei,  omnei.  In  Ennius,  also,  and  Naevius,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Corssen,  traces  of  this  spelling  are  visible ;  still, 
in  these  authors,  they  have  not  yet  been  established  beyond  a 
doubt  (I.,  217);  however,  none  of  these  forms  date  before  the 
time  of  Lucilius.  In  the  very  oldest  inscriptions  these  abla- 
tives are  spelled  either  with  i  or  e,  as  in  marid,  airid,  dicta- 
tor ed,  navaled,  militare,  patre,  aire;  and  in  inscriptions  of  a 
later  date  we  find  ablatives  written  both  with  ei,  e  or  i,  e.  g. 
Genuati,  luuci,  sanctioni,  deditioni,  hereditati,  heredive, 
portioni,  continenti ;  contione,  mense,  Flusare,  parte, 
longitudine,  latitudine.  The  fact,  that  even  in  the  times  of 
Caesar,  in  the  'lex  Julia,'  we  read  continenti,  partei  and 
porte,  shows  that  ei,  at  this  time,  still  represented  the  inter- 
mediate sound  between  e  and  i,  as  in  the  Punic  war.  Hence, 
also,  arises  the  vacillation  between  the  spelling  of  E  and  /,  iu 


DIPHTHONGS.  125 

consonant  and  i-stems,  at  the  time  of  Augustus,  and  even 
later,  after  ei  had  ceased  to  be  employed  for  the  representation 
of  that  intermediate  sound. 

In  the  case  of  the  genitive  singular  of  consonant  and  i- 
stems,  Mr.  Corssen  did  not  meet  with  any  instances,  in  the 
older  inscriptions,  where  it  was  spelled  EIS,  but  he  found  it 
spelled  ES)  in  the  very  oldest  inscriptions,  as  in  salutes, 
Apolones,  which  he  identifies  with  the  very  late  forms  (508 
after  Christ,)  Caesar  es,  campestres,  pages  for  pads,  mare 
for  maris  (I.,  218.)  We  have  no  objection  to  his  doing  so, 
but  we  are  inclined  to  believe,  that  in  the  former  es  was  long, 
while  in  the  latter  it  was  short. 

The  accusative  plural,  and  more  seldom,  the  nominative 
plural  of  consonant  and  i-stems  ends  in  EIS  in  the  following 
forms,  viz.,  claseis  (classes),  naveis,  ponteis,  omneis,  turreis, 
Genuateis,  fineis,  calleis,  Decembreis,  praeconeis,  civeis, 
tristeis,  Quintileis,  pelleis,  Alpeis.  Still,  in  inscriptions  of 
the  same  period,  we  find  Jin  the  following  forms  of  i-stems, 
viz.,  finis  for  fines,  omnis  for  omnes,  Sextilis,  turris  for 
turres,  Octobris  for  Octobres  (I.,  218),  and  E  in  consonant 
as  well  as  in  i-stems,  in  the  following  words,  viz.,  apsides, 
nauales,  clasesque,  leciones,  for  legiones,  lubentes,  prae- 
cones,  quaestores,  viatores,  Decembres,  ceives,  stipitesque, 
decuriones  (ib.).  The  declaration  of  the  grammarians,  and 
the  vacillation  of  the  spelling  in  the  best  manuscripts  proves, 
that  in  the  classical  period  of  the  literature  the  intermediate 
sound  between  i  and  e,  both  in  the  nominative  and  the  accusa- 
tive plural  of  consonant  and  i-stems,  sometimes  sounded  more 
like  i,.  and  at  another  time  more  like  e  (I.,  218).  Yarro's 
teacher,  Aelius  Stilo,  who  was  much  given  to  the  interpreta- 
tion of  Old- Latin  monuments,  was  in  favor  of  spelling  eis,  in 
the  accusative  plural,  e.  g.  ferienteis,  docenteis,  saltanteis, 
facilioreis,  etc.,  and  Yarro  says,  that,  at  his  time,  there  was  a 
vacillation  between  the  spelling  of  is  and  es  in  the  accusative 
pi. ;  and  also  in  the  best  manuscripts  of  Yirgil.  There  are,  also, 
some  instances,  in  which  is  is  found  in  the  nominative  plural  of 


126  DIPHTHONGS. 

these  stems,  and  Yarro  states  expressly,  that,  at  his  time,  the 
people  said  puppis,  restis,  and  also  puppes,  restes,  in  the 
nominative  plural.  The  same  applies  to  the  oldest  manu- 
scripts of  Cicero.  In  vobeis,  also,  El  represents  the  inter- 
mediate sound  between  i  and  e,  as  in  sibei,  tibei,  ibei,  ubei, 
heicei,  where  it  was,  afterwards,  shortened  into  i  or  e,  stbi, 
iibi  (Ital.  ove),  hicce  (L,  219). 

On  passing  to  the  forms  of  the  o-stems,  in  which  El  arose 
from  the  diphthong  oi,  Mr.  Corssen  first  discusses  the  old 
form  of  the  nominative  plural,  pilumnoe  [for  piluminoe,  i.  e. 
poploe  furnished  with  the  pilum,  or  paa/isrot],  in  which  the 
vowel  o  of  the  stem  was  preserved,  but  the  diphthong  oi  was 
weakened  into  oe,  and,  moreover,  had  lost  the  letter  s  of  the 
plural.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  according  to  Mr.  Corssen, 
we  find  in  ante-Augustan  inscriptions  forms  of  the  nominative 
plural,  ending  in  eis,  in  which  the  diphthong  oi  has  been 
weakened  into  ei,  but  where  the  sign  of  the  plural,  viz.  s, 
has  been  preserved.  They  are  found,  at  the  same  time,  with 
the  usual  forms,  ending  in  ei,  in  which  the  letter  s,  of  the 
plural  has  been  dropped,  e.  g.  eeis,  iei,  eis,  eisdem,  ieis,  ei, 
ieis,  eidem,  Vertuleieis,  leibereis,  Minucieis,  Rufeis,  Cava- 
turineis,  gnateis,  facteis,  heisce  (111,  108,  106,  100,  99, 
before  Christ),  magistreis,  ffeirennieis,  Laverneis,  (at  the 
same  time  with  filiei),  filiei,  numei,  quei,  foideratei, 
oinvorsei,  virei,  magistrei,  Juliei,  invitei,  Poppaeei,  colonei, 
publicei,  lectei,  datei,  Roscieis,  Tossieis,  III  vireis,  Italiceis, 
juratei,  Romanei,  ceterei,  lectei,  sublectei,  institutei,  solitei, 
factei,  postereique,  amicei,  socieique,  agrei,  scriptei,  ipsei, 
hei,  publicanei,  illeij  from  the  time  of  the  Empire,  Sep- 
tumieis,  createi,  designatei,  factei,  legatei,  reliquei,  librarei, 
duovirei,  patronei,  unguentariei. 

In  the  oldest  inscriptions,  however,  E  is  written  in  the 
plural  forms,  instead  of  EI,  as  in  modies,  ques,  es,  ploirume. 
At  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  also,  we  find  both  El  and  E  in 
the  same  nominative  forms,  and  at  the  same  time,  e.  g. 
Veturies,  Mentovines,  Cavaturines,  duomvires,  Atilies, 


DIPHTHONGS.  127 

Saranes,  magistres,  plurume.  To  these  forms  also  belong 
matrimes,  patrimes,  mentioned  by  Terr i us  Flaccus,  which 
must  have  dated  from  olden  times,  inasmuch  as  the  s  in  the 
nominative  plural  is  no  longer  found  after  the  time  of  the  war 
with  the  MarsL  Shortly,  after  the  time  of  the  Gracchi,  some 
nominatives  are  also  found,  in  inscriptions,  spelled  with  /,  but 
where  the  original  8  has  been  preserved,  e.  g.  Veturis,  hisce, 
ministris,  magistris  (I.,  221,  222).  Upon  comparing  these 
forms  with  modies,  ploirume,  which  are  found  in  the  oldest 
inscriptions,  it  appears,  that,  in  earlier  writing,  I  or  E  was 
written  in  the  nominative  plural  of  o-stems,  and  that  after  the 
time  of  the  '  senatus  consultum  de  Bacchanalibus',  the  same 
sound  was  also  represented  by  El,  thus,  that  the  sound,  which 
had  arisen  from  the  diphthong  oi,  in  all  these  forms,  was  an 
intermediate  sound  between  e  and  i. 

The  same  thing  we  notice  in  the  genitive  singular,  where 
the  diphthong  oi,  which  originated  from  ois,  was  reduced  into 
a  simple  broad  i  in  machine,  before  the  spelling  of  El  was 
introduced.  We  find  it  spelled  with  El  in  the  following  forms 
viz.,  Bomanei,  colonei,  populei,  locei,  publicei,  agrei,  vinei, 
stipendiarei,  leiberei,  suei,  ostiei,  compagei,  magistrei, 
pageiei,  vicei,  Sulpicei,  fanei,  faciumdei,  exportandei, 
damnateive,  furtei,  mandatei,  habitandei,  utendei,  muni- 
cipiei,  damnei,  wfectei,  praefecteive,  Marcei,  Vergilei. 
Instead  of  El,  we  find  /  in  the  oldest  inscriptions,  up  to  the 
time  of  the  'senatusconsultum  de  Bacchanalibus,'  e.  g.  Sae- 
turnij  Volcani,  Keri,  Kaili,  Barbati,  Laiini;  and  also 
in  law-documents  and  other  monuments,  up  to  the  time  of 
Augustus,  we  find  genitives  in  i  together  with  such  in  ei. 

The  same  applies  to  the  dative  and  ablative  plural  of  o- 
stems,  in  ante- Augustan  inscriptions,  where  we  find  EI  in  the 
place  of  the  diphthong  oi,  which  latter  has  still  been  preserved 
to  us  in  the  forms  suois,  gnatois.  Such  datives  are  :  libreis, 
soveis  (sui$),eeis,ieis,coloneis,vicanei$,  olleisque  (illisque), 
cetereis,  leibereis,  postereisque,  Pisideis,  portorieis,  mari- 
tumeisque,  capiundei*t  amiceis,  liberteis,  sueis,  boneis, 


128  DIPHTHONGS. 

domineis,  vieis  [?],  purgandeis,  certeis,  loceisque,  publiceis, 
tributeis,  fruendeis,  conscreipteis,  serveis,  Caedicianeis, 
Papiei-s,  (together  with  colonis,  Senuisanis),  fileis. 

Ablatives  of  the  same  kind  are  :  castreis,  socieis,  eeis, 
eieis,  eis,  eisdem,  ieis,  mieis,  proxsumeis,  inviteis,  vinculeis, 
amiceis,  sueis,  viasieis,  agreis,  publiceis,  moinicipieis, 
singoleis,  heisce,  anneis,  vireis,  conciliaboleis,  legundeis, 
oppedeis,  foreis,  rostreis,  abiegnieis,  crasseis,  seneis,  aescul- 
nieis,  Puteoleis,  primeis,  pageis,  noneis,  cetereis,  secundeis, 
tertieis,  legundeis,  sublegundeis,  loceis,  aedificieis,  oppideis, 
ludeiSj  comulateis,  olleis,  illeis,  perpetueis,  integreis,  certeis, 
libreis,  jurateis,  comitieis,  anneis,  annueis,  colonels,  plos- 
treis,  jumenteisve,  municipieis,  singuleis,  conciliabuleis, 
castreis,  conscreipteisve,  legateis,  judicieis,  dateis,  jusseist 
meriteis. 

Together  with  the  ending  eis  there  also  occurs  in  the 
same  inscriptions,  although  more  rarely,  the  form  is,  which 
has  become  generally  dominant  afterwards ;  in  a  few  cases  we, 
also,  find  es ;  e.  g.  invitis,  vicanesve,  Januaris,  secundis, 
hisce,  ter minis,  controversis,  jfiscis,  scriptes,  puplicis, 
pro.xumis,  iisdem,  conscriptes,  isdem.  Thus  Mr.  Corsseu 
concludes,  that  in  all  these  cases  El  could  not  have  repre- 
sented a  diphthong. 

Ei  also  appears  in  the  dative  and  ablative  plural  of  the 
a-declension  as  the  representative  of  a  sound,  originating  in 
the  diphthong  ai,  e.  g.  in  the  dative,  incoleis,  scribeisve, 
inferieis,  vieis  purgandeis ;  in  the  ablative,  soveis  (suis), 
taboleis,  tableis,  tabuleis,  controversieis,  decurieis,  causeis, 
praefectureis.  The  older  form  nuges  instead  of  nugais, 
and  the  spelling  /  which  occurs  at  the  same  time  with  El, 
shows,  that  in  this  instance,  also,  EI  had  lost  its  character  as 
a  diphthong,  and  simply  represented  the  intermediate  sound 
between  e  and  1. — Thus,  also,  the  vacillation  in  the  spelling 
of  the  following  words  is  explained,  viz  ; 

1 


DIPHTHONGS.  129 

e  ei  i 

die  quarte,     die  septimei,     die  quinti,  die  noni,  die  crastini, 
here,  herei,  heri, 

peregre,  peregri. 

The  forms  quarti,  quinti,  septimei,  noni,  crastini,  heri, 
herei,  peregri,  are  endings  of  the  locative  case,  as  well  as 
domi,  humi,  vesperi.  In  '  die,1  according  to  Mr.  Corssen, 
the  locative  ending  has  been  dropped,  as  the  letter  i  has 
frequently  been  dropped  in  the  endings  of  the  e-declension. 
As  regards  the  case  in  praefiscine,  Mr.  C.  leaves  it  undecided. 
[Perhaps  the  letter  e  in  die  has  been  contracted  from  diei,  as 
in  Aapfto^,  Dareus,  Darius,  pwotiov,  museum'].  A  similar 
vacillation  is  observed  in  the  spelling  of  the  following  pro- 
nouns and  conjunctions,  viz. 

e  ei  i 

Latin,    sibe,  sibei,  sibi, 

tibe,  tibei,  tibi, 

Umbr.    tefe, 

Umbr.    mehe,  Lat.  mihei,  mihi, 

i/fo(alater  Lat.  form,    "     ubei,  ubi, 

comp.  Ital.  ove,  'Umbr.pufe), 

Umbr.    ife,  Lat.  ibei,  ibi, 

Latin,     ne,  "     nei,  ni. 

(Mr.  Kitschl  has  shown  that  in  the  oldest  inscriptions  the 
spelling  ne  prevailed,  that,  in  the  course  of  time,  nei  and  ni 
became  more  and  more  developed,  until  at  last  ne  came  again 
into  use) 

Umbr.    sve,  Lat.  sei,  lastly  s?*, 

Yolsc.    se, 

Latin,    nise,  nisei,  nisi, 

nesei, 

"         quase  ('in  multorum          quasei,  quasi, 

libris,'  as  Quintilian  says),  quansei. 

utei,  uti. 

The  fact  that  Lucilius  did  not  succeed  in  regulating  the 
spelling  of  2£Zand  7,  appears  from  the  following  synopsis  of 


130 


DIPHTHpXGS. 


the  different  modes  of  spelling  which  are  collected  from  the 
most  important  law-documents  from  the  time  of  the  Gracchi 
to  Caesar : 

e  ei  % 

Tab.  Bantin.  nei,  ni, 

plebeive,  plebive, 

Tab.  Genuat.       Veturis,         Veiturios,  Vituriorum, 

dum-ne,        nei,  ni, 

posedet,        posedeit, 

ibei,  ibi, 

utei,  uti, 

controversieis,      controversis, 
inviteis,  invitis, 

fontei, 

parti, 
rostris, 

plebeive,  plebive, 

lucei,  luci, 

locei,  loci, 

populei,  populi, 

agrei,  agri, 

screiptus,  scriptus, 


fonte, 

Lex  repetund.     parenteve,    majorei, 

(Serv.)  teve,        rostreis, 

Lex  repet. 

Lex  agrar.  (Thor.) 


Lex  Corn,  de 


XX  quaest.     Decembres,  Decembreis, 
praecones,  praeconeis, 
Sc.  d.  Asclep.  veneire, 

Claz.  leibereisve, 

L.  d.  Termes.  PeisidaV, 

ceives 
populei, 


L.  Jul.  mund. 


, 


vemre, 
leiberisve, 
Pisidae, 
civeis, 
populi, 
conscreiptumve,    conscriptum, 


parte, 


deicet, 

tuerei, 

advehei, 

exportarei, 

partei, 

ubei, 


dicere, 

tueri, 

advehi, 

portari, 

continenti, 

ubi, 


DIPHTHONGS.  131 

ei  i 

seive,  sive. 

L.  Rubr.  eeiSj  ieis, 

repromeisserit,     repromissio, 
duceique,  duci, 

possiderei,  possideri, 

deicet,  interdixetve, 

nisei. 

In  the  Augustan  age  the  spelling  El  came  generally  into 
disuse  ;  but  the  intermediate  sound,  which  was  represented  by 
EI  remained,  of  which  Quintilian  says  (1,  4,  8),  "  Neque  e 
plane  neque  i  auditur."  After  this  time  it  was  frequently 
marked  by  a  tall  /,  reaching  over  the  other  letters  (Ritschl, 
Mon.  Epigr.  tria,  p.  31  ;  Mommsen,  Rhein.  Mus.  X.,  124  ff). 
However,  the  spelling  EI  is  still  occasionally  found  in  the 
best  monuments  of  that  age,  up  to  the  later  times  of  the 
empire,  of  which  Mr.  Corssen  mentions  twenty-two  instances 
(L,  229). 

In  the  Umbrian  dialect,  also,  in  which  the  process  of  the 
obscuration  of  the  diphthongs  was  carried  still  farther  than  in 
the  Latin,  the  character  EI  no  longer  represents  a  diphthong, 
but  a  long  sound  between  e  and  i  which  is  also  represented 
by  E  and  /;  compare  the  following  forms,  viz. 

e  ei  i 

pehaner,  peihaner,  pihaner, 

poe,  poei,  poi, 

ape,  apeij  api, 

Fise,  Fiseij  Fisi 


The  Latin  diphthongs  have,  thus,  been  obscured  in  the 
following  manner : 

au,  into  6,  and  in  a  few  cases  into  u  ; 

ou,  through  o  into  u  ; 

ai,  through  ae,  e,  ei  into  I ; 

oi,  through  oe  into  u  ;  and,  also,  through  oe,  e,  ei  into  I. 

ei,  into  e,  ei  and  i. 

The   beginning   of  these   obscurations,  according   to   Mr. 


132  DIPHTHONGS. 

Corssen,  dates  back  to  antehistorical  ages.  At  the  time  in 
which  our  inscriptions  begin,  this  process  is  in  full  operation, 
and  the  diphthongal  characters  are,  to  some  extent,  mere 
monuments  of  deceased  diphthongs.  In  the  Augustan  age 
only  the  diphthong  au  was  preserved  in  spelling,  and  this 
alone  was  transmitted  to  the  Roman  daughter-idioms  ;  see  our 
remarks  on  the  pronunciation  of  ai  and  oi,  page  136. 

This  process  of  extinction  of  the  diphthongs  which  com- 
menced in  the  Latin  at  the  time  of  Roman  greatness  and 
vigor,  invaded  also  the  system  of  Greek  vowels,  after  the 
classic  time  of  Greece  had  passed  away.  It  may  be  inter- 
esting, perhaps,  to  our  readers,  to  learn  the  facts,  collected 
by  Mr.  Corssen,  in  this  respect  (I.,  231). 

In  the  earliest  time  the  diphthong  at  was  weakened  into  as. 
In  this  weakened  form  it  appears,  even,  at  the  time,  when 
the  Roman  sound  ae  was  expressed  in  Greek  by  at,  as  in 
At/u'xtoj,  KoWt,  AaiVtoj  (cfr.  Melhorn,  Greek  Grammar,  p.  22). 
At  the  later  time  of  the  Roman  empire  it  no  longer  sounds 
distinct  from  *.  This  is  proved  by  the  spelling  in  the 
inscriptions,  e.  g.  xsl-t*  for  xttVat,  xyts  for  xftVat,  xsivts  for 
xctj/fac,  xs  for  xat,  fporffoa^of  for  rportato^os,  together  with 

arT'TiTjcrafat  for  a*"TV/j flair ?,  a/vai$yxa/v  for  avf^xav. 

The  other  diphthongs,  also,  are  assailed  about  the  same 
time  by  this  depravation  of  the  vowels ;  hence,  on  Christian 
epitaphs  we  find  e  written,  both  in  the  place  of  *t  and  of  77, 
e.  g.  x&fat  for  x£trat  (in  six  inscriptions),  xlvts  for  xttWat, 

/3a5tXt   for  /3a#tA,st,  rtpoacr-r'tcor  for  rfpoatfT'fuoy,  /tiytyutw  for  Jtf^utEuar, 

ijpi}**  for  i'tpjjj''/;,  t't^i^t  for«u4/v£»7?  ovdJ$  for  ovfcbf,  irouni  for 
heroum,  zp^tov  for  %pv<s*6vi  ptttp  together  with  ^r^p,  J3ot^,  for 

jSo^^ee,  e   for  17.       cjT'paT'i.yov   for   fffpat^yov,  yrtcrtov  for  yr^tfcow,  rtj 

for  *»Jf,  xt/ttV  for  x^v ;  we  also  find  «  and  rt  instead  of  t,  ?;  for 
ft,  and  sc  forty  in  the  following  examples,  iwqo&jfm  for  /A^a^rt, 
•rpEt-tfOA/Stov  for  fptf)X^iOV|  Etaxtoj3  for  *Iaxcoj3,  ftfpo^uapfvpo[v]  for 
tfpo/utpT'vpoi;,  Teptvre tavov  for  Tf p« VT'tavoiJ,  ct'8^  for  t^i'aj,  %apqv  for 
^apw,  T^pj^vf  for  tifppnjf  jyp'qv&rtoi'Of  for  ctp^voTtotoj,  xr^tfy  aitqs  for 
at-^ftj,  frtot'ftaa  for  tjtoiqaa.. 

If  we  compare  with  these  modes  of  spelling  the  Greek 


DIPHTHONGS.  133 

proverb  mentioned  by  Einhard  (Vit.  Carol.  Magn.  Mon. 
Germ.  Pertz,  II.,  452),  viz.,  "  tov  ypayxov  <pa.ov  lw,  yitova  ovx 
*%<>$,"  it  follows,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century  the 
obscuration  of  the  Old-Greek  at  into  «,  of  <H,  *t,  y  into  t, 
in  the  mouth  of  the  people,  was  an  established  fact,  which 
had  gradually  been  brought  about,  during  the  preceding 
centuries.  If  we  add  to  this,  that  in  the  Modern  Greek  the 
diphthong  av,  also,  appears  hardened  into  ap,  a  <p,  it  is  evident 
that  in  this  language  (where,  without  counting  some  few 
remnants  of  the  old  pronunciation  of  the  diphthongs,  in  the 
place  of  ot,  ti,  vi,  vi,  i,  v  there  is  a  single  t,  which  is  slightly 
modified  in  a  few  cases,  and  in  the  place  of  at,  *,  the  system 
of  vowels  is  in  a  worse  state  of  dissolution  and  empoverish- 
ment,  than  even  the  Latin  in  any  of  the  modern  Roman 
tongues.  If  we  take  further  into  consideration,  that  the 
orthography  in  these  later  inscriptions  is  very  different  from 
that  in  the  older,  we  have  an  additional  proof  that  this  poor 
and  degenerated  vowel-system  could  not  have  been  in  use  at 
the  times  of  the  great  Hellenic  bard,  and  that  the  most  intel- 
ligent of  all  nations  could  not  have  indulged  in  so  childish 
and  affected  a  whim  as  to  employ  six  simple  and  double  charac- 
ters for  the  representation  of  the  sound  of  i  in  machine.  The 
Greek  language,  therefore,  taking  it  all  together,  in  the  course 
of  time,  obscured  its  diphthongs  in  a  similar  manner  as  the 
Latin,  and,  even,  went  a  good  deal  farther  so  as  to  extinguish 
the  last  vestige  of  its  diphthongal  sounds. 


134  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING  LATIN. 


METHODS  OF  PRONOUNCING  LATIN. 

In  taking  a  retrospective  view  of  the  preceding  pages,  the 
reader  will  agree  with  us,  that  they  shed  new  light  on  many 
hitherto  dark  portions  of  Latin  etymology  and  pronunciation. 
But,  leaving  a  summing  up  of  the  new  results  gained  for  the 
cause  of  Latin  etymology  for  some  future  occasion,  we  intend 
to  make  those,  obtained  for  the  subject  of  Latin  pronunciation, 
the  issue  of  a  practical  question. 

The  method  by  which  the  Romans  pronounced  the  Latin, 
we  consider  now  as  fairly  established,  and  in  view  of  this  fact 
we  feel  ourselves  authorized  to  discuss  the  inconsistencies 
and  shortcomings  in  vogue,  at  the  present  day,  in  America 
and  Great-Britain,  which  failures  are  brought  to  light  by  a 
comparison  of  these  methods  with  the  standard-pronunciation 
of  the  Romans.  In  Great-Britain,  indeed,  they  have  in  one 
respect  an  advantage  over  us ;  for,  although  their  system  of 
pronunciation  is  found  entirely  at  variance  with  that  prevail- 
ing among  the  Romans,  still,  throughout  the  whole  of  England 
there  is  only  one  method  in  use  among  all  the  learned,  and  in 
Scotland  another,  while  in  America  we  have  as  many  pronun- 
ciations as  there  are  nationalities  absorbed  in  our  political 
organism.  For,  in  addition  to  the  English  and  Scotch 
methods,  we  have  the  Italian,  French,  Spanish  and  German, 
which,  although  different  from  each  other,  are  usually  com- 
prised under  the  general  head  of  the  '  Continental  method.1 
Moreover,  many  of  our  scholars,  disapproving  of  the  wholesale 
manner  in  which  the  distinction  between  the  long  and  short 
vowels  in  Latin  is  disregarded  by  the  English  method,  have 
introduced  modifications  of  this  system,  giving  the  long 
English  sound  to  long  vowels  in  Latin,  and  the  short  English 
to  short  vowels  in  Latin.  The  Scotch  pronunciation,  also, 
was  modified  in  a  similar  manner ;  and,  while  by  some 
scholars  the  continental  sound  of  the  vowels  was  adopted, 
they  retained  the  English  sound  of  the  consonants. — In  view 


THE    ROMAN    METHOD.  135 

of  these  many  conflicting  systems  of  pronunciation,  which,  in 
our  country,  are  not  restricted  to  peculiar  localities,  as  in 
Great-Britain,  but  are  inculcated,  daily,  in  every  part  of  the 
Union,  on  the  minds  of  the  rising  American  generation,  and 
which,  in  reality,  amount  to  no  system  at  all,  every  sincere 
lover  of  classical  education  will  agree  with  us,  that  it  is  a 
matter  greatly  desirable,  that  we  should  have  one  common 
Latin  pronunciation.  Gould  says  in  the  preface  of  his 
edition  of  Adam's  Latin  Grammar :  "  It  is  hoped  that  these 
rules  will  do  something  towards  bringing  about  a  greater 
uniformity  of  pronunciation,  an  object  greatly  to  be  desired : 
for  the  vicious  pronunciation,  arising  from  an  entire  neglect 
of  the  subject  in  some  schools,  and  from  the  whimsical 
peculiarities  of  others,  affords  no  little  trouble  and  vexation 
to  the  tutor,  when  all  the  varieties  of  it  are  brought  together 
in  collegiate  recitations." 

In  the  course  of  the  following  discussion,  where  we  intend 
to  examine  each  of  these  methods  separately  and  to  compare 
them  with  the   standard-pronunciation  of  the   Romans,   we 
shall  endeavor  to   show  that  the  only  system  on  which  the 
advocates  of  all  these  methods  are  likely  to  unite,  is  that    ^ 
which  was  in  use  among  the  Romans  themselves.     We  pro-     ' 
pose  to  open  our  discussion  by  collecting  the  results  with 
regard  to  the  Roman  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  which  were 
obtained  in  the  preceding  investigation. 

THE  ROMAN  METHOD. 

Upon  reviewing  the  preceding  pages  we  notice  that  the 
Romans  themselves  pronounced  the  Latin  differently  at 
different  periods,  and  the  question  hence  arises,  at  which 
period  was  the  Latin  pronounced  by  the  Romans  in  a  man- 
ner most  accordant  to  the  genius  of  their  language.  The 
history  of  the  Latin  language  at  once  points  us  to  the  classi- 
cal period  of  the  literature,  at  the  times  of  Cicero  and  Caesar, 
when  the  Old  Latin,  after  many  struggles,  had  settled  down 
in  the  modern  form,  which  is  presented  to  ns  in  the  inscrip- 
12* 


136  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

tions  dating  from  these  times  and  from  the  earliest  period  of 
the  Roman  empire.  The  Latin  language  was  pronounced, 
at  this  time,  in  the  following  manner : 

1.  The  Sounds  of  the  Vowels. 

A  long,  as  in  the  English,  father.  A  short,  the  same 
sound,  shorter. 

E  long,  like  e  in  there  or  a  in  fate.  E  short,  as  in  the 
English  bed  or  set  and  dishes.  -^  $  n& 

I  long,  as  in  the  English  machine.  I  short,  as  in  the 
English  sit.  In  maximus,  artibus,  and  in  some  other  words, 
mentioned  in  our  article  on  7,  it  was  pronounced  like  the 
French  u.  Moreover,  it  had  sometimes  an  intermediate 
sound  between  e  in  bed  and  i  in  sit,  which,  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  language,  was  represented  by  ei. 

O  long,  as  in  the  English  sore.  0  short,  as  in  the  English, 
nor.  When  blended  from  au  it  was  pronounced  more  like  o 
in  off. 

U  long,  as  in  the  English,  rude.  U  short,  as  in  the 
English,  put.  In  acerrumus,  artubus,  etc.,  where  it  was 
afterwards  changed  into  i,  it  sounded  like  the  French  u. 

2.    The  Sounds  of  the  Diphthongs. 

^»         Ae,  like  ai  in  aisle. 

Au,  like  ow  in  fowl;  before  d,  like  the  English  diphthong 
ou  in  gout. 

Eu,  somewhat  like  ei  in  height;  but  with  this  difference, 
that  in  ei  in  height  the  diphthong  terminates  in  i  in  machine, 
whilst  in  eu  it  ends  in  the  French  u. 

Oe,  like  oi  in  toil,  or  oy  in  boy. 

HEM.  Ai  in  ais,  ain,  ei  in  dein,  oi  in  proin  are  not  pro- 
perly diphthongs,  and  are  to  be  pronounced  separately. 

The  reason  of  our  deciding  in  favor  of  the  sound  of  ai  in 
aisle  for  the  diphthong  ae,  and  oi  in  toil  or  oy  in  boy  for  the 
diphthong  oe,  is,  because  at  the  period  of  which  we  are 
treating,  the  first  members  of  these  diphthongs  were  not  yet 


METHODS   OF    PRONOUNCING    LATIN.  137 

fully  absorbed  by  their  second  members.  This  we  see 
instanced  by  the  decree  of  the  emperor  Claudius ;  for  if,  at 
his  time,  these  two  diphthongs  had  already  coalesced  into  a 
single  sound,  he  would  not  have  ordered  the  re-introduction 
of  the  spelling  ai  for  ae,  and  oi  for  oe. 

3.  The  Sounds  of  the  Semi-Vowels. 

Jinjacio,  etc.,  was  pronounced  like  y  in  year  ;  as  a  medial, 
between  two  vowels,  it  sounded  more  softly. 

Vj  like  English  v  ;  between  two  vowels,  almost  like  w. 

4.  The  Sounds  of  the  Consonants. 

a.    Gutturals. 

C,  like  k,  even  before  e  and  i. 

Qut  before  a  and  o,  like  Ic  followed  by  a  mute  u  (in  put\ 
before  ae,  e  and  i,  like  k  followed  by  v. 

G,  as  in  the  English  good  and  get,  even  before  e  and  i. 
H,  as  in  English. 

b.  Labials. 
P  and  B,  as  in  English. 

F  had  a  peculiar  sound,  akin  to  h,  which  is  difficult  for  us 
to  pronounce. 

Ph,  like  English/. 

c.  Dentals. 

T,  as  an  initial  and  a  medial,  sounded  as  in  English  ;  as  a 
final  it  was  pronounced  more  softly. 

Ti,  when  followed  by  a  vowel,  was  not  sibilated,  but  pro- 
nounced as  in  tiara,  Miltiades. 

D,  as  an  initial  and  a  medial,  sounded  like  the  English  d  ; 
as  a  final,  it  was  pronounced  more  like  t. 

d.  Liquids. 

L}  like  the  English  I,  with  a  few  modifications. 
R      The  Roman  r  was   lingual   in  its  nature,  while  the 
English  is  more  guttural. 


138  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

N,  as  an  initial  and  a  medial,  had  the  strong  English 
Round  ;  as  a  final,  also  before,/,  v  and/,  and  after  m  it  sounded 
more  indistinctly.  Before  g  it  was  pronounced  as  in  thing. 

M,  as  an  initial  and  a  medial,  was  sounded  strongly,  as  8 
final,  more  indistinctly. 

e.     Sibilants. 

S  had  the  usual  sound  of  the  English  letter;  between  two 
vowels  it  was  pronounced  more  softly. 
Z  sounded  like  the  Italian  z,  viz.  ts  or  ds. 
X,  like  the  English  letter. 

THE  ENGLISH  METHOD. 

"  The  English  pronunciation  of  the  Latin,"  as  Walker,  the 
lexicographer,  observes  in  his  '  Key  to  the  Pronunciation 
of  Greek  and  Latin  Proper  Names,'  "has  naturally  sprung 
up  in  our  own  soil,  and  is  congenial  to  our  native  language. " 
It  considers  the  analogy  of  the  English  language  as  the  rule 
for  pronouncing  the  Latin,  and  in  so  doing  it  does  not 
hesitate,  either  to  do  violence  to  the  sound  and  quantity  of  the 
Latin  vowels  or  to  alter  the  pronunciation  of  some  of  its 
consonants.  In  extenuation  of  this  mode  of  proceeding, 
Walker  holds,  that  the  English  pronunciation  of  the  Latin 
sounds  better  to  the  ear  than  the  foreign  [or  continental, 
which  in  the  vowels,  at  least,  does  not  deviate  from  the 
ancient  Latin  pronunciation].  He,  also,  says  [and  this  we 
deem  the  only  plausible  excuse  for  the  English  pronunciation]  : 
"When  we  consider  the  uncertainty  we  are  in  respecting 
the  ancient  pronunciation  of  the  Romans,  and  how  much  the 
learned  themselves  are  divided  among  themselves  about  it, 
the  English  may  well  be  allowed  to  follow  their  own  pronun- 
ciation of  Latin,  as  well  as  other  nations,  even  though  it 
should  be  confessed  that  it  seems  to  depart  more  from  what 
we  can  gather  of  the  ancient  pronunciation  than  either  the 
Italian,  French  or  German."  The  same  excuse  is  offered  by 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  139 

Gould,  where  he  says  :  "  For  these  seeming  inconsistencies  we 
can  only  answer  by  saying,  we  know  not  how  the  Romans 
sounded  these  vowels  under  like  circumstances  ;  and  as  we 
probably  never  shall  know,  it  seems  most  rational  to  give 
vowels  in  Latin  the  same  sound  we  should  give  them  in  our 
own  language  when  similarly  situated." 

The  system  of  Walker  has  been  adopted  by  all  the  subse- 
quent advocates  of  the  English  method,  viz.  Gould,  Andrews 
and  Stoddard,  etc.  Harkness  in  his,  "Arnold's  First  Latin 
Book,"  presents  it  in  the  following  form. 

I.    The  Sounds  of  the  Vowels 

"In  the  English  method,  the  vowels  generally  have  the 
long  or  short  English  sounds :  the  length  of  the  sound,  how- 
ever, is  not  dependent  upon  the  quantity  of  the  vowel,  but 
must  be  determined  by  its  situation  or  accent. 

(a)  In  all  monosyllables,  vowels  have 

1.  The  long  sound  if  at  the  end  of  the  word,  as,  si,  re. 

2.  The  short  sound  if  followed  by  a  consonant ;   as,   sit, 
rem  ;  except  post,  monosyllables  in  es,  and  plural  cases  in 
os  /  as,  hos. 

(6)  In  an  accented  penult,  vowels  have 

1.  The  long  sound  before  a  vowel,  diphthong,  single  con- 
sonant, or  a  mute  followed   by  I,  r,  or  h;  as  deus,  pater , 
patres ;  except  tibi  and  sibi. 

2.  The  short  sound  before  a  double  consonant,  or  any  two 
single  consonants  except  a  mute  followed  by  I,  rt  or  h ;  as 
bell  am,  rexit. 

(c)  In  any  accented  syllable  except  the  penult,  vowels 
have 

1.  The  long  sound  before  a  vowel  or  diphthong,  as  e  in 
eadem. 

2.  The  short  sound  before  a  consonant ;  as  o  in  dominus; 
except, 

a.  U  before  a  single  consonant,  or  a  mute  followed  by  r  or 
h  (and  perhaps  I);  as  Punicus,  salubritas. 


140  METHODS   OF   PEONOUNCING   LATIN 

b.  A,  e  and  o,  before  a  single  consonant  (or  a  mute  before 
Z,  r,  or  /?,),  followed  by  e  or  i  before  another  vowel ;  as,  doceo, 
acria. 

(d)  In  all  unaccented  syllables,  vowels  have  the  short 
sound  ;  as,  cantdmus,  vigilat :  except, 

1.  Final  a  in  words  of  more  than  one  syllable.     This  has 
the   sound   of  ah,  as   in   the   word  America;   e.   g.   musa 
(musah). 

2.  Final  syllables  in  i  (except  tibi  and  sibi),  es,  and  os,  in 
plural  cases;  as,  homini,  dies,  illos. 

3.  The  first  syllable  of  words  accented  on  the  second,  when 
the  first  either  begins  with  an  i  followed  by  a  single  con- 
sonant, or  contains  i  before  a  vowel ;  as,  diebus,  irdtus. 

JRem.  E,  o,  and  u,  unaccented  before  a  vowel,  diphthong, 
a  single  consonant,  or  a  mute  followed  by  I,  r,  or  h,  are  not 
quite  as  short  in  sound  as  the  other  vowels  in  the  same 
situations. 

II.    The  Sounds  of  the  Diphthong. 

Ae  and  oe,  like  e  in  the  same  situation ;  e.  g.  Caesar, 
Daedalus. 

Au,  as  in  the  English,  author  ;  e.  g.,  aurum. 

Eu,         "  "         neuter;  e.  g.,  neuter. 

Ei,         "  "         height;  e.  g.,  dein. 

Oi,          "  "         coin;  e.  g.,  proin. 

Eem.  1.  The  vowels  in  ei  and  oi  are  generally  pronounced 
separately. 

Hem.  2.  A  few  other  combinations  seem  sometimes  to  be 
used  as  diphthongs.  U  is  always  the  first  element  of  these 
combinations,  and  has  then  the  sound  of  w;  as,  suade  = 
swade :  except 

Ui  in  huic  and  cui,  which  has  the  sound  of  the  long  i. 

III.    The  Sounds  of  the  Consonants. 
The  consonants  are  pronounced  nearly  as  in  English,  c  and 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  141 

g,  are  soft  before  e,  i,  and  y,  and  the  diphthongs  ae  and  oe, 
and  hard  in  other  situations :  ch  is  always  hard  like  k  as 
charta  (kartah)." 

In  characterizing  this  method  the  author  of  *  Essay  upon 
the  Harmony  of  Language,'  quoted  by  Walker,  says,  "The 
falsification  of  the  harmony  by  English  scholars  in  their  pro- 
nunciation of  Latin,  with  regard  to  essential  points,  arises 
from  two  causes  only :  first,  from  a  total  inattention  to  the 
length  of  vowel  sounds,  making  them  long  or  short  merely  as 
chance  directs ;  and  secondly,  from  sounding  double  conso- 
nants as  only  one  letter.  The  remedy  of  this  last  fault  is 
obvious.  With  regard  to  the  first,  we  have  already  observed, 
that  each  of  our  vowels  hath  its  general  long  sound  and  its 
general  short  sound  totally  different.  Thus  the  short  sound 
of  e  lengthened  is  expressed  by  the  letter  a,  and  the  short 
sound  of  i  lengthened  is  expressed  by  the  letter  e  ;  and,  with 
all  these  anomalies  usual  in  the  application  of  vowel  charac- 
ters to  the  vowel  sounds  of  our  own  language,  we  proceed  to 
the  application  of  vowel  sounds  to  the  vowel  characters  of  the 
Latin.  Thus,  in  the  first  syllable  of  sidus  and  nomen,  which 
ought  to  be  long,  and  of  miser  and  onus,  which  ought  to  be 
short,  we  equally  use  the  common  long  sound  of  the  vowels ; 
but  in  the  oblique  cases,  sideris,  nominis,  miseri,  oneris, 
etc.,  we  use  quite  another  sound,  and  that  a  short  one ." 

"  It  is  a  matter  of  curiosity  to  observe  with  what  regularity 
we  use  these  solecisms  in  the  pronunciation  of  Latin.  When 
the  penultimate  is  accented,  its  vowel,  if  followed  but  by  a 
single  consonant,  is  always  long.  When  the  antepenultimate 
is  accented,  its  vowel  is,  without  any  regard  to  the  requisite 
quantity,  pronounced  short,  as  in  mirab'ile,  frig'idus  ;  except 
the  vowel  of  the  penultimate  be  followed  by  a  vowel,  and  then 
the  antepenultimate  is,  with  as  little  regard  to  true  quantity, 
pronounced  long,  as  in  maneo,  redeafc' odium,  imperium. 
Quantity  is,  however,  vitiated  to  make  i  short,  even  in  this 
case,  as  in  oblivio,  vinea,  virium.  The  only  difference  we 
make  in  pronunciation  between  vinea  and  venia  is,  that  to  the 


142  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING  LATIN. 

vowel  of  the  first  syllable  of  the  former,  which  ought  to  be 
long,  we  give  a  short  sound  ;  to  that  of  the  latter,  which  ought 
to  be  short,  we  give  the  same  sound  but  lengthened.  U  ac- 
cented is  always,  before  a  single  consonant,  pronounced  long, 
as  in  humerus,  fugiens.  Before  two  consonants  no  vowel 
sound  is  ever  made  long,  except  that  of  the  diphthong  an  ;  so 
that  whenever  a  doubled  consonant  occurs,  the  preceding 
syllable  is  short.  Unaccented  vowels  we  treat  with  no  more 
ceremony  in  Latin  than  in  our  own  language." 

With  respect  to  the  accent  and  quantity  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, as  pronounced  according  to  the  English  method, 
George  Walker,  in  his  translation  of  "  Scheller's  Latin 
Grammar,"  makes  the  following  remarks  :  "  The  English  in 
pronouncing  Latin,  generally  follow  the  usage  of  their  own 
language  :  i.  e.  they  pronounce  as  a  word  similarly  spelt 
would  be  pronounced  in  English,  a)  In  dissyllables  the  ac- 
cent is  always  laid  upon  the  penultime.  b  )  In  polysyllables 
the  penultime  is  accented  if  the  syllable  be  long,  but  in  all 
other  cases  the  accent  is  laid  upon  the  antepenultime.  There 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  this  custom  produces  a  pronunciation 
entirely  different  from  the  Latin.  With  them,  the  accent  and 
quantity  were  regulated  on  distinct  principles,  and  the  accent 
might  fall  on  a  short  vowel  without  affecting  its  quantity  : 
with  us,  accent  and  quantity  are  in  many  instances  confounded. 
With  them,  the  sound  of  the  long  and  short  vowels,  though 
elementarily  the  same,  were  always  distinguished  in  length, 
with  us,  there  is  either  no  distinction,  or  it  is  made  by  substi- 
tuting quite  a  different  elementary  sound.  Thus  according 
to  the  English  pronunciation,  there  is  no  difference  between 
morari  to  delay,  and  morari  to  be  foolish  ;  but  that  the 
Latins  made  a  difference,  is  clear  from  Suet.  Ner.  33  ;  where 
he  relates  that  Nero,  speaking  of  his  predecessor  Claudius, 
satirically  said  '  morari  eum  inter  homines  desiisse,  pro- 
ducta  prima  syllaba.'  These  words,  therefore,  must  have 
been  distinguished  in  common  discourse,  or  the  sarcasm  would 
have  been  unobserved." 


METHODS   OF    PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  143 

By  these  quotations  it  is  rendered  evident,  that  the  English 
method  not  only  gives  different  sounds  to  Latin  vowels,  but 
also  practically  destroys  their  quantity.  Earkness,  indeed, 
says  that  the  length  of  the  sound  is  not  dependent  upon  the 
quantity  of  the  vowel,  and  Gould,  that  the  quantity  of  the 
vowels  is  not  supposed  to  be  expressed  by  the  long  or  the 
short  sounds  we  give  to  them  in  English.  But,  by  what  else, 
we  should  like  to  know,  is  quantity  expressed  unless  by  the 
long  and  short  sounds  of  the  vowels ;  and,  how  can  we  expect 
our  students  to  understand  that  those  vowels  which  they  are 
taught  to  pronounce  with  their  long  English  sounds,  are 
frequently  short,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  those  which  they 
are  taught  to  pronounce  short  are  often  long  ?  They  can 
commit  the  rules  concerning  Latin  quantity  to  memory,  it  is 
true,  and  even  apply  them  in  scanning  their  Latin  poets  ;  but 
the  subject  will  forever  remain  dark  in  their  eyes,  and  they 
will  never  be  able  to  see  how  the  vowel  i  can  be  long  both  in 
miles  and  militis,  where  in  one  case  it  is  pronounced  accord- 
ing to  the  English  method,  with  the  long  English  sound,  and 
in  the  other  with  the  short  one. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  vowel-sounds  which  are  called 
long  in  English,  are  not  absolutely  long,  nor  the  short  sounds 
short,  and  that,  consequently,  by  giving  to  short  Latin  vowels 
the  so-called  long"  English  sound  we  do  not  positively  make 
them  long  in  quantity.  This  sounds  plausible  ;  for  to  our 
ears,  also,  the  short  English  sound  of  a  in  sand,  aft,  lag, 
glass  and  of  o  in  off,  bond,  soft,  sounds  as  much  prolonged 
as  a  in  fate,  and  o  in  bone  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  long 
sounds  of  a,  e,  o,  u  are  found  in  unaccented  as  well  as  in  ac- 
cented syllables,  and  thus  appear  both  long  and  short  in 
quantity.  Moreover,  in  English  poetry  short  as  well  as  long 
vowels  are  treated  as  long,  when  they  receive  the  accent. 
However,  all  this  does  not  alter  the  fact  that  the  sound  of  a 
in  mane  sounds  longer  than  the  corresponding  sound  of  e  in 
men,  and  only  proves  that  the  long  sounds  of  a,  e,  i,  u,  o,  are 
relatively  long,  but  have  the  power  of  becoming  absolutely 
13 


144  METHODS   OF    PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

so,  when  they  receive  the  accent.  The  Latin  long  vowels,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  absolutely  long,  even  when  they  are  not 
accented.  This  fundamental  difference  between  the  Latin 
and  English  long  vowels  we  regard  as  an  additional  argument 
against  supplanting  the  former  by  the  latter  in  Latin  pronun- 
ciation. 

There  are  others,  again,  among  the  superficial  classical 
scholars,  who  insist  that  it  does  not  matter  at  all,  whether  we 
preserve  the  Latin  quantity  or  not.  These  will  always  be 
opposed  by  the  thorough-going  classical  scholars,  to  whom  a 
giving  up  of  Latin  quantity  would  render  insipid  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Latin  poets  ;  and  inasmuch  as  in  the  estimation 
of  many  of  our  scholars  the  English  method  practically  does 
destroy  Latin  quantity,  they  will  forever  oppose  its  general 
adoption  in  this  country. 

THE  SCOTCH  METHOD. 

The  Scotch  method  was  introduced  in  this  country  by  the 
Scotch  masters,  who  from  times  even  earlier  than  the  revolu- 
tion, down  to  a  period  within  living  memory,  accomplished 
with  great  success  the  work  of  classical  instruction.*  At 
the  present  day  we  hear  but  little  of  it ;  for  inasmuch  as  in 
most  particulars  it  agrees  with  the  'Continental  method,' 
it  now  frequently  passes  under  this  name.  As  it  served, 
however,  in  a  great  measure  to  break  up  the  strict  English 
pronunciation  in  this  country,  it  is  a  matter  of  curiosity  to 
know  what  are  its  true  principles,  and  we,  therefore,  propose 
to  extract  some  parts  of  Ross'  Latin  Grammar,  1823,  treating 
on  this  subject. 

"  The  Latin  a  is  pronounced  short  like  a  in  man,  or  long 
like  a  in  star. 

*  As  one  example  out  of  many,  it  will  be  remembered  that  Rev.  Dr. 
Witherspoon,  the  President  of  Princeton  College,  was  a  graduate  of  a 
Scotch  university,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  our  early  revolu- 
tionary Congress. 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  145 

The  Latin  e  is  pronounced  short  like  e  in  men,  or  like  e  in 
there. 

The  Latin  i  short  like  i  in  legis,  or  long  like  I  in  audls, 
audlmus. 

An  Anglicised  pronunciation  of  Latin  is  to  be  cautiously 
avoided  :  as,  gredus  for  grddus;  netio  for  natio." 

Brooks,  in  his  new  edition  of  Ross'  Grammar,  1844, 
retains  the  sounds  of  a  and  e  as  laid  down  by  Ross,  but 
states  the  rule  about  the  pronunciation  of  i  in  the  following 
words  : 

"  I  has  the  English  sound,  and  is  short,  as  in  legis,  or  long 
as  in  audimus.  At  the  end  of  unaccented  syllables,  it  has 
the  sound  of  short  e ;  as  in  Fabius,  mihi,  tibi,  sibi." 

He  also  makes  the  following  additions : 

"  0  has  the  sound  of  o  in  no,  and  is  short  as  in  temporis, 
or  long,  as  in  leone. 

U  has  the  sound  of  u  in  tube,  and  is  short,  as  in  denuo,  or 
long,  as  in  cornu. 

Y  has  the  English  sound.  In  the  end  of  an  unaccented 
syllable,  it  sounds  like  e. 

Es,  in  the  end  of 'words,  sounds  like  the  English  word 
bays;  as,  fames,  doces. 

Os,  in  the  accusative  plural,  sounds  like  dose;  as  illos, 
pueros." 

The  diphthongs  Brooks  pronounces  in  the  same  way  as 
they  are  done  according  to  the  English  method ;  and  also  the 
consonants  both  Ross  and  himself  pronounce  in  this  way. 

Upon  comparing  the  method  of  Ross  with  that  laid  down 
*by  the  advocates  of  that  of  the  English,  it  appears  that  he 
differs  decidedly  from  them  in  the  pronunciation  of  a  and  e 
which  he  pronounces  almost  as  in  the  Roman  and  Continental 
method.  With  regard  to  the  sound  of  I  he  does  not  specify 
whether  he  intends  to  give  to  it  the  long  English  or  Conti- 
nental sound,  but  Brooks,  his  commentator,  gives  both  to  i  or 
y,  and  u  the  decided  English  sounds,  so  that  there  is  a 
probability  that  they  were  sounded  so  by  Ross  himself. 


116  METHODS    OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

The  Scotch  method  seems  to  have  been  embraced  by  many 
scholars  who  were  not  willing  to  give  up  the  Latin  quantity 
in  the  pronunciation,  and  by  approximating  it  somewhat  to 
the  English  method,  they  gradually  produced,  what  may  be 
called: 

THE  MODIFIED  ENGLISH  METHOD. 

This  method  prevails  in  the  greater  part  of  the  colleges, 
outside  of  New-England.  It  differs  from  the  old  English 
method  principally  in  this,  that  it  gives  to  the  long  Latin 
sound  of  a  the  sound  of  a  in  father,  and  in  applying  the  long 
sounds  of  the  other  vowels  it  is  not  governed  by  English 
analogy,  but  by  Latin  quantity ;  thus  they  do  not  pronounce 
militis  but  mllitis,  not  etiam  but  etiam,  etc. 

This  certainly  is  a  move  in  the  right  direction  and  deserving 
of  all  praise ;  but  we  advise  our  friends  in  this  line,  not  to 
remain  half-way,  but  finish  their  good  work,  and  not  only  to 
restore  Latin  quantity  to  its  right  in  pronunciation,  but  also 
to  give  to  the  vowels  their  genuine  Latin  sound.  For,  unless 
they  break  with  English  analogy  altogether,  and  do  not  allow 
it  the  least  influence  in  Latin  pronunciation,  they  will  never 
secure  a  true  and  consistent  pronunciation  among  their 
students  ;  inasmuch  as  the  weak  ones  among  them,  forgetful 
of  Latin  quantity,  will  ever  again  relapse  into  their  old 
English  habits,  and  give  the  long  English  sounds  to  short 
Latin  vowels,  and  vice  versa.  This  danger  of  being  carried 
away  by  English  analogy  is  not  an  imaginary  one,  but  it 
exists  both  in  the  case  of  the  students,  and  of  the  teachers 
themselves,  many  of  whom  have  sadly  neglected  the  subject 
of  Latin  quantity  in  their  studies.  Thus,  while  they  some- 
times pronounce  the  Latin  vowels  with  the  English  sounds, 
according  to  the  laws  of  Latin  quantity,  they  just  as  often 
pronounce  it  contrary  to  these  laws,  according  to  English 
analogy ;  and  this  disorder  is  even  worse  than  that  of  the 
old  English  method,  for  there,  at  least,  they  have  some 
kind  of  an  order,  although  it  is  not  a  true,  but  an  artificial 


METHODS    OF    PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

one. — No,  we  must  repeat  it  again,  it  is  better  to  be  cold  01    . 
warm,  better  to  have  the  Old  artificial  English  method,  or  still 
better  the  true  Roman  one,  than  to  be  thus  suspended  betweei. 
the  two. 

However,  if  even  (as  is  done  by  a  few)  the  advocates  of  the 
Modified  English  Method  pronounce  the  four  vowels  e,  i,  a 
and  u,  according  to  English  analogy,  without  minding  the 
Latin  quantity,  and  make  an  exception  in  favor  of  the  vowel 
a  (in  the  pronunciation  of  which  they  are  never  at  a  loss),  it 
is  still  one  point  gained  out  of  five. 

THE  CONTINENTAL  METHOD. 

This  method  has  been  introduced  in  this  country  by  the 
Roman  Catholics,  the  German  Lutherans,  and  Reformed,  and 
the  Moravians,  and  is  taught  in  their  colleges  and  schools, 
As  we  have  mentioned  above,  under  this  term  are  included 
the  Italian,  French,  Spanish  and  German  pronunciations. 
All  these  agree  in  the  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  vowels 
(with  the  exception  of  u,  which,  as  we  are  told  by  a  graduate 
of  one  of  the  French  univ-ersities,  is  pronounced  by  the  French 
like  their  own  vowel  u\  but  they  differ  in  the  pronunciation  of 
the  diphthongs,  and  in  that  of  some  of  the  consonants,  viz : 
of  the  diphthongs,  and  that  of  se*»e  of  tke  ooftsoaaats,  v«-: 
t  in  ti,  c  in  ce  and  ci,  g  in  ge  and  gi,  j  and  z,  which  are  pro- 
nounced by  each  in  the  fashion  of  their  own  tongue.  Within 
the  last  twenty  years  this  method  has  gained  many  adherents 
in  this  country,  and  while  some  of  the  modern  authors  of  Latin 
Grammars  and  textbooks,  e.  g.  McClintock  and  Crooks,  have 
declared  themselves  openly  in  its  favor,  others,  e.  g.  Harkness, 
Adler,  etc.,  have  deemed  it  of  sufficient  importance  to  give  it 
alongside  with  the  English  method  in  their  books  of  instruc- 
tion. 

McClintock   says,   concerning   this   subject,  in  his  ' First 

Book  in  Latin,  p.  3 :   "  Almost  every  modern  nation  has  its 

own  way  of  pronouncing  Latin.     But  as  the  vowels   have 

nearly  the  same  sounds  in  all  the  different  countries  of  Conti- 

13* 


118  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

ncntal  Europe,  there  is  something  approaching  to  uniformity 
in  their  pronunciation  ;  the  English,  however,  give  peculiar 
sounds  to  some  of  the  vowels,  and  they  pronounce  Latin, 
therefore,  unlike  all  the  rest  of  the  world.  In  this  country 
two  methods  prevail,  which,  for  convenience'  sake,  may  be 
called  the  Continental  and  the  English.  We  give  them 
both,  stating,  at  the  same  time,  our  decided  preference  for  the 
first,  both  on  the  score  of  consistency  and  convenience.  In 
both  methods  the  consonants  are  pronounced  nearly  as  in 
English." 

We   regard   the    Continental    method    as   laid    down   in 
Harkness'  Grammar  as  more  correct,  viz : 

1.    The  Sounds  of  the  Vowels. 


fl. 
^2. 


"The  Continental  sounds  of  the  vowels  are  as  follows: 
a  like  a  in  father  ;  e.  g.  aris. 

a  in  made ;     e.  g.  edit. 
e  in  met;       e.  g.  amet. 
i      "  e  in  me;         e.  g.  ire. 

„      f  1.  o  in  no;         e.  g.  ora. 

^2.  6  in  nor;        e.  g.  amor. 
u    "  6  in  do;          e.  g.  una. 

y    "  e  in  ?ne;          e.  g.  nympha. 

These   sounds   are   uniformly  the   same   in   all  situations, 
except  as  modified  by  quantity  and  accent. 

2.    The  Sounds  of  Dipthongs. 

ae  and  oe  like  a  in  made;  e.  g.  aetas,  coelum. 
au  "     ow  in  o?/£ :  e.  g.  aurum. 

REM.     The  vowels  in  ei  and  eu  are  generally  pronounced 
separately." 

McClintock  gives  to  the  diphthongs  the  following  sounds : 
ae  or  oe,  as  e  in  £/iere. 
aw,  as  ow  in  our. 
eu,  as  ei/,  in  feud, 
ei  (rarely  occurring)  as  i  in  nice). 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING  LATIN.  149 

3.    The  Sounds  of  the  Consonants. 

"  The  pronunciation  of  the  consonants  is  nearly  the  same  as 
in  English,  though  it  varies  somewhat  indifferent  countries." 

Upon  comparing  the  sounds  of  the  vowels  in  the  Continen- 
tal method  with  those  which  we  have  proved  to  have  been  in 
use  among  the  Romans  themselves,  we  find  that  they  agree  in 
every  respect.  We,  therefore,  recommend  most  earnestly  the 
adoption  of  this  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  vowels  to  every 
sincere  friend  of  classical  education,  as  the  only  means  by  which 
order  may  be  brought  into  the  confusion  which  now  universally 
prevails  on  this  subject.  And,  we  no  longer  recommend  the 
adoption  of  this  pronunciation  of  the  vowels  on  the  score,  that 
they  are  pronounced  so  by  the  rest  of  the  world,  but  because 
we  regard  it  as  definitely  settled,  that  such  was  the  utterance 
among  the  Romans  themselves.  Moreover,  as  the  Roman 
pronunciation  of  the  Latin  is  now  a  fixed  fact,  there  is  no 
longer  any  earthly  reason  why  we  should  continue  to  apply 
to  the  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  the  analogy  of  our  own 
tongue.  Let  us  drop  the  English  mask,  as  the  true  features 
of  the  Latin  are  no  longer  a  myth,  but  a  fixed  reality. 

Before  extending  our  comparison  between  the  Roman  and 
Continental  methods  to  the  diphthongs  and  consonants,  we 
wish  to  make  a  few  remarks  in  general  as  to  the  re-introduction 
of  the  former. 

Although  we  insist  on  the  adoption  of  the  Roman  sounds 
of  the  long  and  short  Latin  vowels,  because  they  all  exist  in 
the  English  language  and  are  familiar  to  the  English  organ, 
we  still  deem  it  inexpedient  to  imitate  such  sounds  of  the 
Latin  as  do  not  exist  in  the  English  language,  viz.,  the  Latin 
sound  of  the  diphthong  eu,  and  of  the  consonants/  and  r. 
Moreover,  we  consider  it  unnecessary  to  regard  the  inter- 
mediate vowel-sounds  between  e  and  i,  and  i  and  u,  and  the 
various  shades  of  the  Latin  liquids  and  other  consonants.  In 
all  of  these  cases  we  propose  to  express  them  by  the  nearest 


150  METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

English  sounds;  thus,  the  diphthong  eubj  the  distinct  vowels 
e  and  u=ey  in  they  and  u  in  put,  as  in  the  Italian,  the  inter- 
mediate sound  between  e  and  i  either  by  e  in  bed  or  i  in  s^, 
accordingly,  as  it  is  spelled  in  Latin,  and  so  also  the  inter- 
mediate sound  between  i  and  u,  either  by  i  or  u  ;  the  Latin 
consonant  /  by  the  English  f;  the  Latin  lingual  r,  by  the 
English  guttural  (or  semi-guttural)  ;  and  the  different  shades 
of  n,'m,  /,  tt  d,  and  s,  by  the  one  sound  we  give  to  each  of 
these  letters  in  English. 

A  comparison  between  the  sounds  of  the  diphthongs  in  the 
Roman  and  Continental  methods  shows  no  longer  the  same 
agreement,  as  iu  the  vowels. — We  have  made  clear  in  our 
articles  on  the  diphthongs,  that  the  Latin  diphthongs  (with 
the  exception  of  au,  in  some  words),  in  the  course  of  time, 
merged  in  single  sounds  (although  this  process  was  not  con- 
summated at  the  time  from  which  our  Roman  method  dates)  ; 
thus,  in  the  later  Latin  tongue,  with  the  exception  of  au,  all 
Latin  diphthongs  were  abolished.  This  disaffection  for  diph- 
thongs from  the  Latin  passed  over  into  its  daughter-languages, 
and  thus  in  French,  Italian  and  Spanish  we  find  e  in  the  place 
of  the  Latin  diphthongs  ae  and  oe,  and  almost  altogether  o 
in  the  place  of  au. 

Wherever  the  French  language  produced  any  diphthongs 
of  its  own,  it  carried  out  its  original  tendency  of  breaking  up 
diphthongs,  which  tendency  it  had  received  from  the  Latin, 
and  it  either  reduced  them  into  single  sounds,  as  in  ai,  au, 
ei,  eu,  or  else  it  separated  them  into  two  distinct  sounds,  viz., 
oi.  This  process  of  separating  diphthongs  into  two  distinct 
sounds  is  fully  carried  out  in  the  Spanish,  and  in  the  Italian. 
But  in  all  the  Germanic  tongues  the  diphthongs  are  preserved 
in  their  unalloyed  form.  Hence,  these  nations  also  differ  in 
the  pronunciation  of  the  Latin  diphthongs,  and  all  of  them, 
including  the  Germans,  have  departed  from  the  classic  pro- 
nunciation. For  practical  use  we  recommend  the  following 
Roman  sounds  of  the  Latin  diphthongs  : 

ae,  like  ai  in  aisle. 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  151 

an,  like  ow  in  fowl,  and  before  d  like  the  English  diph- 
thong ou  in  gout. 

eu,  in  two  syllables,  viz.,  ey  in  they  and  u  in  put  as  in  the 
Italian. 

oe,  like  o£  in  toil,  or  oy  in  boy. 

As  regards  the  sound  of  ti  before  a  vowel,  every  one  of  the 
continental  nations  pronounces  it  differently. 

We  have  shown  above,  that  the  Romans  during  the  classic 
time  of  their  language  pronounced  it  like  ti  in  tiara ;  that  by 
the  influence  of  the  succeeding  i  it  became  assibilated,  in  the 
course  of  time,  and,  during  the  process  of  its  assibilation,  passed 
through  four  distinct  stages.  In  the  first  stage  of  assibilation  \ 
it  was  changed  into  ts,  and  into  the  kindred  sound  of  th  ;  in  the 
latter  form  it  is  preserved  in  the  Spanish,  and  in  the  former  in 
the  German  and  Italian.  In  the  second  stage  it  sounded  like 
tsh  or  dsh  as  sometimes  in  Italian ;  in  the  third  like  s  as  in 
French,  and  in  the  fourth  like  sh  as  in  English,  e.  g.  nation. 
Every  one  of  these  nations  has  thus  a  predilection  for  one  of 
these  sibilants,  and  the  question  hence  arises,  whether  we 
ought  to  insist  on  returning  to  the  classical  Roman  sound  of 
ti  in  tiara,  or  give  way  to  the  bias  of  each  nation.  If  we 
admit  the  sibilation  in  case  of  t,  in  order  to  be  consistent,  we 
must  also  do  it  in  the  case  of  g,  c,  and/  In  the  case  of  j, 
we  are  emphatically  opposed  to  its  sibilation ;  for,  by  the 
combined  efforts  of  Aufrecht  and  Corssen  its  place  among 
the  simple  consonants  or  rather  semi-vowels  has  been  vindi- 
cated, and  its  power  of  making  a  vowel  long  by  position  has 
been  disproved,  and,  on  this  account,  we  think  it  ought  to  be 
most  carefully  separated  from  the  English  j,  which  really  is  a 
double  consonant,  and  might  be  imagined  to  make  a  preceding 
vowel  long  by  position.  For  the  same  reason  we  are  opposed 
to  extending  the  English  soft  pronunciation  of  g  to  Latin  ge 
and  gi,  but  recommend  its  being  always  pronounced  like  the 
hard  Roman  g,  as  is  done  almost  universally  throughout  the 
country  in  Greek.  In  the  case  of  t  and  c,  which  became 
assibilated  in  the  Latin  itself,  (while  the  assibilation  of  j  and 


152 


METHODS   OF    PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 


g  is  of  post-Latin  origin),  we  propose  that  from  the  fourth 
and  third  stages  of  assibilation  where  they  occur  in  English, 
they  be  transferred  back  again  at  least  into  its  first  stage,  i.  e. 
that  ti  and  ci  be  pronounced  tsi,  instead  of  shi  and  si.  As 
regards  the  pronunciation  of  z  we  ought  to  insist  on  its  Roman 
pronunciation,  viz.  ts,  (ds)  for  it  is  a  compound  consonant  in 
Latin  and  ought  to  be  pronounced  as  such. 

We,  therefore,  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  Roman 
method  in  the  following  form,  which  we  may  call 

THE  PRACTICAL  ROMAN  METHOD. 

1.    The  Sounds  of  the  Vowels. 

A  long,  as  in  the  English,  father.  A  short,  the  same 
sound,  shorter. 

E  long,  as  in  the  English,  fate.  E  short,  as  in  the  English, 
then  and  dishes. 

I  long,  as  in  the  English,  machine  and  caprice.  I  short, 
as  in  the  English,  sit. 

0  long,  as  in  the  English,  hole.  0  short,  as  in  the  English, 
nor. 

U  long,  as  in  the  English,  rude.  U  short,  as  in  the 
English,  put. 

2.  The  Sounds  of  the  Diphthongs. 

Ae,  like  ai  in  aisle, 

Au,  like  ow  in  fowl;  before  d,  like  the  English  diphthong 
ou  in  gout. 

Eu,  in  two  syllables,  like  the  same  Italian  diphthong. 

Oe,  like  oi  in  toil,  or  oy  in  boy. 

REM.  Ai  in  ain,  ais,  ei  in  dein,  oi,  in  proin  are  not 
properly  diphthongs,  and  are  to  be  pronounced  separately. 

3.  The  Sounds  of  the  Semi-vowels. 

J  in  jacio,  like  y  in  year. 
V,  like  English  v. 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  153 

4.    The  Sounds  of  the  Consonants. 
a.   Gutturals. 

C  like  k,  before  e  and  i  (y)  like  ts,  as  in  glades,  fado,     - 
fads,  etc. 

Qu,  before  a  and  o,  like  k,  followed  by  a  mute  u  (in  put) ;     | 
before  ae,  e  and  i,  like  &  followed  by  v. 

G,  as  in  the  English  good  and  #e£,  even  before  e  and  i. 

ZT,  as  in  English. 

b.  Labials. 
P,  B,  F,  and  Ph  as  in  English. 

c.  Dentals. 

T,  as  in  English.  Ti,  when  followed  by  another  vowel,  as 
in  natio,  like  ts,  except  when  preceded  by  s,  x,  or  another  c, 
as  in  tristior,  mixtio,  Bruttii,  in  old  infinitives  in  er,  as  nitier, 
quatier,  in  Greek  words  such  as  Miltiades,  Boeotia,  Aegyp- 
tius,  and  at  the  beginning,  as  in  tiara,  in  all  of  which  cases  it 
is  pronounced  like  t. 

D,  as  in  English. 

d.  Liquids. 
L,  E,  M,  N,  and  NG,  as  in  English. 

e.  Sibilants. 

S  and  X,  as  in  English. 

Zt  like  the  Italian  z  viz :  ts  or  ds. 


In  conclusion  we  would  propound  to  all  lovers  of  classical 
education  the  following  interrogatories. 

1.  Is  it  right  for  us  to  teach  our  students  what  has  been 
proved  to  be  wrong  ? 

2.  Is  it  easier  for  a  student  to  learn  to  pronounce  the  Latin 
in  the  Roman  or  in  the  English  fashion  ?  that  is,  is  it  easier  to 
pronounce  a  always  like  a  in  father,  or  ah  in  Jehovah,  e  long, 


154  METHODS    OF    PRONOUNCING   LATIN. 

like  ey  in  they,  or  short,  as  in  bed  or  set,  o  long  as  in  sore,  or 
short  as  in  nor,  i  either  long  as  in  fatigue,  or  short  as  in  sit, 
the  long  u,  like  u  in  rude,  and  the  short  like  the  same  letter 
in  put,  or  else  to  guess  among  the  many  sounds  of  the  English 
vowels  ? 

3.  Can  we  expect  the  majority  of  our  students  to  have  the 
least  idea,  why  the  vowel  e  in  nemus,  and  i  in  miles,  are 
pronounced  long  and  receive  an  entirely  different  sound  from 
the  other  cases,  where  they  must  be  pronounced  short,  though 
they  have  the  accent  on  the  same  syllable  as  in  the  nominative 
case  ? 

4.  Will  they  not  regard  the  vowel  e  in  nemus  long,  if 
they  are  taught  to  pronounce  it  as  in  me  ?     And  will  they 
not  consider  i  in  militis  short,  if  they  pronounce  it  like  i  in 
sit,  while  in  miles  they  pronounce  it  as  in  child  ? 

5.  Will  they  not  get  a  wrong  idea  of  the  Latin  metres, 
if  they  are  taught  to  violate  Latin  quantity  in  their  pronun- 
ciation ? 

6.  Will  not  our  students  if  they  are  suffered  to  apply  the 
analogy  of  their  own  tongue  to  the  Latin  language,  apply  it 
also  to  the  Latin  words  which  they  find  in  the  French,  Italian, 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  languages  ?     Will  they  not  consider 
themselves  authorized  to  introduce  it  even  into  the  Semitic 
and  Germanic  tongues,  since  the  Hebrew  proper  names  have 
already  been  anglicized,  and  they  meet  with  many  Anglo- 
saxon  stems  in  the  German  language  ? 

7.  Is  there  really  any  possibility  at  all   of  applying  the 
analogy  of  the  English  language  consistently  to  the  Latin, 
since  we  cannot  expect  our  students  to  be  acquainted  in  all 
cases  with  the  Latin  quantity,  which  is  frequently  ignored  by 
their  teachers  themselves,  and   since  in  order  to  follow  out 
this  analogy  they  are  sometimes  obliged  to  shift  even  the 
Latin  accent,  e.  g.  ov  in  English  is  pronounced  oov  in  move, 
prove  ;  and  in  order  to  carry  out  this  pronunciation  in  Latin, 
as  in  removet,  the  students  are  absolutely  obliged  to  shift  the 
accent  from  the  antepenultimate  to  the  penultimate  ? 


METHODS   OF   PRONOUNCING   LATIN.  155 

We  commend  these  interrogatories  to  the  earnest  attention 
of  all  lovers  of  classical  learning  amongst  us.  As  our 
political  and  religious  institutions  are  deriving  shape  and 
form  from  the  character  of  our  country,  so  our  practices  in 
Latin  pronunciation  are  rapidly  assuming  a  fixed  character. 
The  question  is,  shall  these  practices  be  uniform,  or  shall  they 
differ  so  much,  as  virtually  to  make  the  Latin  tongue,  in  this 
country,  in  the  hands  of  Englishmen,  Scotchrren,  Frenchmen, 
Germans,  Italians,  etc,,  essentially  a  different  tongue,  under- 
stood by  none  of  the  other  nationalities  ?  The  only  hope  for 
uniformity  consists  in  adopting  those  well-defined  sounds 
which,  it  is  as  certain  formed  the  usage  of  the  classic  age,  as 
the  practices  of  the  educated  classes  in  Paris  or  Florence 
give  the  tone  to  French  or  Italian  pronunciation  everywhere. 

We  cannot  conclude  without  earnestly  asking  the  attention 
of  the  learned  to  this  treatise  of  Mr.  Corssen,  which,  however 
we  may  differ  from  it  in  details,  has  done  more  to  place  this 
subject  on  a  determinate  basis,  than  any  preceding  effort. 


14 


APPENDIX. 

EXCURSUS 
ON  ZETACISM  AND  THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  THE  GREEK  AND  LATIN  Z. 

After  Mr.  Corssen  has  shown,  that,  whenever  in  the  Latin 
a  second  vowel  follows,  after  the  combinations  of  the  guttural 
smooth  and  the  dental  smooth  and  middle  with  the  vowels  i 
or  e,  these  consonants  are  changed  into  the  sound  of  z  (=ds 
or  ts),  he  deems  it  superfluous  to  enter  any  farther  into  the 
old  disputed  question  among  the  learned,  whether  the  letter 
z  arose  from  ds  and  ts  or  from  sd  and  st;  for  after  the  expla- 
nation which  he  has  given,  he  regards  it  as  settled  that  the 
consonants  d  and  t  preceded  the  s.  However,  as  there  are 
some  scholars  in  this  country  as  in  Europe  who  still  hold  and 
defend  the  opposite  doctrine,  we  deem  it  advisable  to  fortify 
and  strengthen  our  position  still  more,  by  proving  that  this 
phenomenon  is  not  at  all  confined  to  the  Greek  and  Latin, 
but  also  appears  in  other  languages.  Prof.  A.  Schleicher, 
the  learned  co-editor  of  a  Journal  of  Comparative  Philology* 
and  author  of  a  Lithuanian  and  an  Old-Slavonic  Grammar, 
shows  in  his  work  entitled  '  Investigations  in  Comparative 
Philology,  1848. >**  that  in  almost  all  languages,  in  the  later 
stages  of  their  development,  the  gutturals  and  dentals,  and 
even  the  labials  to  some  extent,  when  followed  by  the  con- 
Bonantal  y,  before  i  and  e,  were  weakened  and  changed  into 
sibilants,  which  process  he  calls  'Zetacism.' 

*  Beitrage  zur  vergleiclienden  Sprachforschung  auf  dem  Gebiete 
der  Arischen,  Celtischen  und  Slavischen  Spracheu,  herausgegeben  von 
A.  Kuhn  und  A.  Schleicher. 

**  Sprachvergleichende  Untersuchungen,  No.  1.  Zur  Vergleiclienden 
Sprachengeschiclite,  von  Dr.  A.  Schleicher 

(157) 


158  APPENDIX. 

Although  it  is  very  difficult  to  trace  the  changes  of  sound 
in  a  language,  lacking  the  convenience  of  alphabetic  writing, 
which  is  the  chief  source  of  information  for  the  science,  dealing 
in  the  history  of  sounds,  still,  according  to  Abel  JRemusat  and 
Endlicher,  the  Chinese  language  furnishes  instances  in  the 
popular  dialect  of  Peking,  where  k  before  i  is  softened  into 
k'  or  c'  (tsh)  ;  for  the  sibilants  tc'  (tsh),  tc'  (tsh-Ji),  sh  and  </' 
(dsh-h)  are  only  found  before  the  radical  forms  a,  ang,  an,  e, 
en,  ao,  ai,  eu,  when  they  are  intensified  or  strengthened  into 
ia,  iang,  ian,  ie,  ien,  iao,  iai,  ieu,  pp.  117-119. 

Many  "  zetacistic  "  phenomena  are  noticed  in  the  Thibetan, 
the  second  among  the  monosyllabic  tongues.  They  occur, 
whenever  a  consonantal  y  comes  into  contact  with  a  preced- 
ing consonant,  which  in  this  language  is  always  either  a 
guttural  or  a  labial.  Thus  ky  is  changed  into  tt/'=tsh,  py(p 
with  consonantal  y)mto  tsh,  and  sometimes  it  is  even  reduced 
into  sh  (s).  Phy  becomes  tsh-h,  thus  phyugpo,  rich  is  pro- 
nounced tshhoog.po;  by  (b  with  consonantal  y)  is  changed 
intodzh,  i.  e.,  the  English  j,  thus  byedpa,  to  do  or  to  make  is 
pronounced  dzhedpa  orjedpa,  pp.  115-117. 

Among  the  Tatarian  languages,  in  the  Mantshu,  k  before 
i  Is  pronounced  like  is,  and  g  like  ds  ;  and  tsh  (&'=c)before  i 
like  ts  and  dsh=g'  like  ds ;  in  the  Mongolian^  Mispronounced 
like  tsh  before  i,  and  sometimes  before  U  and  ^,and  ds  like 
dsh;  the  sharp  ss  before  i  is  usually  pronounced  sh  (s),  pp. 
Ill,  112.  In  the  Magyaric  language  we  find  the  usual 
sounds  which  are  produced  by  the  zetacism,  viz  :  cs  (c'),  cz 
(ts),  s  (s=sh)  zs=z\  zh,  etc.  ;  gy  is  usually  pronounced  dy. 
But  when  the  final  t  of  verbal  stems  is  preceded  by  a  short 
vowel,  this  final  t  is  blended  with  the  (j  or)  y  of  the  termina- 
tion into  sh,  e.  g.  Kot,  Kossek,  (pronounce  Koshek)  etc.  ; 
however,  when  it  is  preceded  by  another  consonant  (with  the 
exception  of  a  sibilant)  or  a  long  vowel,  tj  or  ty  is  contracted 
into  ts=  Engl.  tsh,  e.  g.  tart,  he  holds,  second  person  of  the 
imperative  or  subjunctive  mood  with  the  suffix  j  ( Engl.  y) 
tarts  for  tartj  (pronounce  tartsh),  etc.  Those  verbal  stems 


APPENDIX.  159 

in  which  the  final  t  is  preceded  by  s  (s\)  or  sz,  contract  the 
latter,  when  followed  by  j  (the  consonantal  y),  into  ss  and 
szsz,  as  fest,  to  paint,  imperative  mood  fessfaraszt,  to  harass, 
imperative  mood  faraszsz  ;  this  seems  to  be  done  by  assimi- 
lating the  sound,  which  is  obtained  by  the  coalescing  of  tj, 
to  the  preceding  sibilant,  pp.  112,  113. 

Even  the  Finnish  idiom,  exceedingly  soft  as  it  is,  which  of 
the  sibilants  only  possesses  s,  and  of  the  double  sounds,  com- 
posed with  them,  only  tz  (Germ,  z),  (which  latter,  in  some 
dialects  passes  over  into  ss  or  ht  or  tt),  undergoes  zetacistic 
changes  in  the  sounds,  preceding  i.  Mr.  Kellgren  says,  p. 
58,  in  his  "  Outlines  of  the  Finnish  language,"  that  the  dental 
t,  when  followed  by  i,  turns  regularly  into  s,  unless  it  is  pre- 
ceded by  h.  In  the  Esthonian  forms  kassi,wessi,  the  dental 
t,  even,  reappears  again  in  the  oblique  cases,  p.  114. 

As  a  general  thing  the  Semitic  languages  have  preserved 
themselves  intact  of  the  zetacism ;  still  in  the  Modern  Ara- 
bian dialect  of  the  Eastern  Bedouins,  according  to  the 
"Grammaire  Arabe  vulgaire"  of  Caussin  de  Perceval,  Caph 
(Jch)  is  pronounced  before  e  and  i  like  the  Italian  c=tsh,  pp. 
108.  109. 

Among  the  Indo-European  languages  the  Zend,  Old-Per- 
sian, Celtic,  Gothic,  and  Old- High- German  remained  unaf- 
fected by  the  zetacism.  In  the  Sanscrit  we  can  distinguish  a 
few  of  its  traces ;  thus,  g'yoot  (pronounced  djoot  or  dshoot), 
splendor,  light,  as  well  as  the  more  frequent  form  dyoot,  seem 
to  be  mere  expanded  forms  of  dyoo,  which  has  the  same  sig- 
nification. This  change,  however,  appears  very  frequently  in 
its  modern  forms,  viz  :  the  Pali  arid  the  Pracrit,  e.  g.  Pali 
sac' c' am  (pronounce  satsham)  truth,  from  the  Sanscrit  sat- 
yam  ;  Pali  vigga,  science,  from  the  Sanscrit  vidya  ;  Pracrit 
amac'c'a  (pronounce  amatsha)  minister,  from  the  Sanscrit 
amatya,  pp.  59,  60,  61.  The  zetacism  does  not  occur  in  the 
Modern  Persian,  because  it  has  been  deprived  for  the  most 
part  of  its  terminations,  which  very  frequently  contain  the  con- 
sonantal y,  the  cause  of  the  zetacism,  and  because,  also,  its 
14* 


160  APPENDIX. 

words  have  otherwise  been  broken  np  by  the  loss  of  letters 
and  the  arbitrary  insertion  of  vowels.  Of  the  Armenian, 
which  has  been  disfigured  in  a  like  manner,  Mr.  Schleicher 
mentions  one  single  instance  of  the  zetacism,  viz.  :  meg' ,  (pro- 
nounce madsh),  middle,  Sanscr.  madhya.  Less  disfigured  is 
the  Ossetian  language,  another  member  of  the  Iranian  family, 
which  continues  at  the  present  day  in  the  Caucasus,  in  the 
midst  of  languages  from  a  different  origin,  and  of  which  three 
dialects  are  spoken.  In  the  Digorian  dialect  g  before  i  is 
changed  into  gy,  i.  e.  the  hard  g  followed  by  the  consonantal 
y ;  in  the  Tagaurian  it  becomes  dy.  These  changes  form  a 
scale,  indicating  the  increasing  influence  of  i=ee  upon  the 
guttural.  The  same  thing  takes  place  in  k  arid  kht  when  fol- 
lowed by  i,  and  also  by  e,  in  the  beginning  of  words ;  still, 
the  transition  of  ky  and  ty  into-  tsh  has  not  yet  been  proved 
in  these  particular  instances.  In  the  Digorian  dialect  z,  dz, 
and  s,  before  i,  are  changed  into  z\  dz\  and  s'  (with  a  weak 
aspiration,  as  in  azure)  etc. 

Among  the  two  principal  branches  of  the  Celtic  family,  the 
Cymric  (Breton)  is  untouched  by  the  zetacism.  In  the 
Gaelic  branch,  according  to  Pictet,  the  Irish  idiom  consi- 
derably softens  t  and  d  before  the  weak  vowels,  so  that  their 
sound  may  properly  be  explained  by  ti  in  tien  and  di  in  dieu 
(Fr.).  This,  Mr.  Schleicher  properly  regards  as  the  first 
effect  of  the  vowels  e  and  i  on  the  preceding  dental,  so  that 
here  we  have  manifestly  tye,  tyi  (with  the  consonantal  y) 
instead  of  te  and  ti.  In  the  Erse  (Highland  Scotch)  t  and  d 
before  e  and  i  are  pronounced  like  c'  and  g'(tsh  and  dsh).  This 
influence  is  exerted  by  e  and  i  not  only  on  the  preceding,  but 
also  on  the  immediately  following  consonant ;  i  is  always 
sounded  after  d.  Dh  before  e  and  i  is  almost  pronounced 
like  the  German^',  and  the  English  consonantal  y  ;  so  also  gh 
before  e  and  i  is  pronounced  like  y  in  young. 

In  the  Lithuanian  language  we  only  meet  with  the  dental 
zetacism.  When  ti  and  di  are  followed  by  a  vowel,  thus 
when  i  is  equivalent  to  a  German  J  and  English  consonantal 


APPENDIX.  161 

y,  they  are  changed  into  ts  and  ds  (cz  and  dz1) ,  and  the  letter 
i  is  no  longer  pronounced,  e.  g.  sedziu  (pronounce  setsu), 
together  with  sedmi,  I  sit ;  z'altis,  the  serpent ;  z'odis  the 
word,  in  the  genitive  have  z'alczio  (z'altsho),  of  the  serpent , 
z'odzio  (zodsho),  of  the  word. 

In  the  Lettish  language,  which  partakes  altogether  of  a 
more  modern  character,  the  zetacism  seizes  the  dentals,  gut- 
terals,  sibilants  and  liquids,  e.  g.  leek-u,  I  lay,  leezi  (pro- 
nounce la-tsee)  thou  layest ,  deg-t,  to  burn,  degg-u,  I  burn, 
dedsi,  thou  burnest.  T  is  changed  into  s/i,  e.  g.  Leiti-s  a 
Lithuanian,  Leisha,  of  the  Lithuanian.  D  is  changed  into 
zh  or  soft  sh,  e.  g.  breedi-s,  the  elk,  bree~zha,  contracted  of 
b  reedy  a,  of  the  elk,  etc. 

The  Slavonic  languages,  as  Mr.  Schleicher  says,  are  the 
true  homestead  of  this  linguistic  law.  In  order  to  demon- 
strate the  laws  of  the  zetacism  in  these  languages  he  discusses 
the  Old- Slavonic  of  the  East,  and  the  Polish  of  the  West. 
In  the  Old- Slavonic  there  are  two  kinds  of  vowels,  1.  Soli- 
dae  a,  e,  y,  o,  u,  2.  Liquidae  or  affectac,  ya,  ye,  i  (yi),  (yo), 
yu.  I  is  instead  of  yi  even  in  the  Polish.  The  simple  i  (y), 
which  is  called  lery  does  not  affect  the  preceding  consonants. 
All  genuine  Slavonic  consonants  are  subject  to  the  zetacism, 
except  those  which  almost  universally  arose  from  the  zetacism, 
viz.  :  sz=sh,  cz—tsh,  szcz=shtsh.  The  great  number  of  si- 
bilants in  the  Slavonic  languages  is  entirely  owing  to  changes 
wrought  in  the  consonants  by  the  consonantal  y  and  i. 

In  the  Teutonic  family  the  zetacism  manifests  itself  at  a  late 
period.  In  the  Gothic  it  was  entirely  unknown.  In  the  Old- 
High  German  the  dental  smooth,  indeed,  almost  universally 
passed  over  into  z=ts,  while  it  was  retained  in  the  other  dia- 
lects ;  still,  this  change  runs  parallel  with  that  of  the  guttu- 
rals and  the  palatals  in  the  Sanscrit,  and  is  not  owing  to  the 
succeeding  i  or  e.  In  the  Old-Friesic  k  is  sometimes  changed 
into  sz,  when  followed  by  e  and  i,  e.  g.  szetel,  (cacabus), 
szerke,  (ecclesid) ;  kk  and  gg,  which  are  frequently  followed 
by  a  consonantal  y,  are  changed  into  sz  (ts)  and  dz  (ds).  In 


162  APPENDIX. 

the  Old-  English  we  find  ch  instead  of  k  before  £,  i,  e,  i  ;  its 
pronunciation,  however,  is  uncertain.  In  the  Modern  Eng* 
lish,  as  is  well  known,  the  zetacism  has  affected  many  of  the 
dentals,  as  well  as  of  the  gutturals,  (pp.  78,  79).  The  Icelandic, 
by  the  insertion  of  j,  i.  e.  y,  into  the  old  stems,  shows  the  first 
traces  of  the  zetacism  ;  likewise  the  Danish,  (p.  80).  In  the 
Swedish  the  initial  guttural  smooth,  before  e,  i,  y,  a,  o,  e,  i,  y, 
a?,  03,  jd,  je,  jo,  ju,  loses  its  peculiar  sound,  and,  according  to 
Botin,  sounds  like  tj=t  with  the  consonantal  y,  and  according 
to  Prof.  Bask  like  tsh.  This  pronunciation  may  be  assumed 
as  correct,  at  least  with  regard  to  that  dialect  of  the  Swedish 
language  with  which  Rask  was  acquainted.  Sk  is  pro- 
nounced like  sh  before  the  vowels  related  to  i,  e.  g.  skynda 
(pronounced  shynda)  to  hasten  ;  sken  (sheri),  appearance. 
Before  these  same  vowels  g  is  pronounced  like=y  (consonantal 
y)  p.  80.  81. 

From  the  Greek  language  the  palatal  semi-vowel  y  (Engl. 
y  in  year)  as  well  as  the  labial  v  (p)  disappeared  at  an  early 
time.  The  consonantal  y  was  a)  either  entirely  cast  off  as  in 
vpljiss,  you,  Sanscr.  yous'mat;  tv^s,  vestis,  Sanscr.  vas  ;  or  6) 
it  passed  over  into  the  hard  breathing  sound  h,  e.  g.  fyutV, 
you,  yftap,  jecur  ;  or  c)  it  was  replaced  by  the  vowels  t,  «,  v, 
e.  g.  I6vt,  Sanscr.  yant,  going,  which  is  the  crude  form  of  the 
present  participle,  etc. 

As  a  medial,  1,  it  is  dropped  in  numberless  cases,  e.  g.  in 
the  verbs  in  aw,  ow,  «'«,  instead  of,  <%«,  oyw,  fyw,  which  corres- 
pond to  tke  Sanscrit  verbs  of  the  tenth  class  ;  in  the  verbal 
adjective  of  necessity  terminating  in  •*£<>$,  which  corresponds 
to  the  Sanscrit  tavya,  where  two  semi-  vowels  have  been  drop- 
ped ;  between  a  consonant  and  a  following  vowel  olaovti 
instead  of  olayovtc  (cfr.  Ahrens  de  dial.  Dor.)  ;  2,  it  is  changed 
into  c  or  e,  e.  g.  ayto$,  Saner,  yag'ya,  xwzos,  Saner,  cunya;  3, 
it  is  transposed,  e.  g.  <jco-mpa  for  orw-z^p^a,  etc.,  4,  it  is  assimi- 
lated by  the  preceding  consonant,  e.  g.  £*/3jW 


Besides  these  changes  to   which  the  semi-vowel  y  was 


$^ 

. 

APPENDIX.  163 

subjected,  it  also  coalesced  with  the  dentals,  gutturals,  [and 
even  sometimes  with  the  labials]  into  J  or  o<s.  As  a  medial, 
£  or  oa  is  obtained  1,  from  by  (8  with  a  consonantal  y)  and 
ry,  when  they  are  followed  by  a  vowel,  e.  g.  GX^-^,  ax^y^ 

o%i>£w*  J  xpa*tv$  (xpcu^pos,  Strong),  Dor.  [xparu^,  xpaaruw, 
3cpao^u»»/J  tfpatfcrwj',  later  Ionic  xpsaauv,  Attic  xpstaauV,  /3paSvf, 
/3pa5tcof,  j3pa5^wt/,  /3pct(j(jwf,  slower  /  sapSux,  Aeol.  xap£a,  heart; 
fjJJa,  /u'Sya,  roo/,  Saner,  vrdh,  to  grrow  ;  rfcuS-,  Ttcufyw,  rfaJfu.  ; 
Saner.  7iad,  Perf.  xt'^oSa,  #%w,  *£  f  w  ;  2,  from  yy,  ^  and  ^, 

e.  g.  jWfy-ywv,  /tfy^w^;  u«£'un>,  ^Uf  c'£tov  ^  ^Cpay^cj,  xp&^o*  J  ffri^yu), 
cti(^<.o  ;  (^xv^,J  vjxiara,,  >}xtcov,  qxyuv,  waouv  ;  ]3^^,  flrt%y<Aj  firfiGut)  etc.  J 
3,  [from  /3y,  ?ty,  e.  g.  T-ajSyo-^aac,  Xaf  o/tat  J  viriy^,  vl£  w  J  7tf7t-?/w, 
Ttfcfflfw  J  £i>£7tcd,  trees,  f^fc'cjffw,  ocTcff,  6cJcfo/iat;  O7t['Z'Jo^iat.  J  xo/t-j  xortyiu, 


^4s  an  initial,  f  is  obtained  ;  1,  frequently  from  Sc  which, 
when  followed  by  a  vowel,  is  instead  of  fy  (6  with  a 
consonantal  #).  Thus  ?a  instead  of  Sta,  (which  does  not 
occur  exclusively  among  the  Aeolians),  £»  wxfo*;  £aj3aM.£tv 

for  5ta/3a?t7,ftf  J    Zwvv%o$  for   Atdyvcroj  J    farffSoi/   for   ^tartfSot',    Zfi'j 

for  A^^j,  Ato?,  from  the  Sanscr.  dyoo  ;  Lat.  zeta  for  &'cura  ; 
2,  from  (3y  (j3  with  a  consonantal  y).  For  according  to 
Eustathius  and  Strabo  the  Arcadians  (and,  according  to  the 
latter,  also  the  Macedonians),  instead  of  an  initial  /3,  pro- 

nounced  £,  e.   g.    fTttfapfto   for   £'7tt/3apf'o  J    f  Ipf^poi/  for    /3apa^poi'. 

Hesychius  and  the  Etymologicum  magnum,  without  specifying 
the  dialects,  mention  fi'xxw  [jfo'xo*  ?]  for  j3a^o.  We  do  not  see 
any  reason  why  instead  of  tracing  some  of  these  words  to 
guttural  roots  of  the  Sanscrit,  and  not  attempting  to  explain 
the  rest,  we  should  not  rather  admit  in  the  Greek  language, 
as  well  as  in  the  other  idioms,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Schleicher, 
a  coalescing  of  the  labial  into  the  consonantal  diphthong,  by 
the  addition  of  the  semi-vowel  y.  Instead  of  admitting  a 
partial  or  dialectic  assibilation  of  the  labial,  Mr.  Schleicher 
rather  takes  recourse  to  guttural  stems  of  the  Sanscrit.  Still, 
this  weakening  of  the  labial  could  not  have  taken  place  in 

*  See  Bopp's  explanation  of  this  ending,  "  Vergl.  Grainm."  g  19. 


APPENDIX. 

the  primitive  times,  when  the  old  members  of  this  chain 
of  languages  yet  formed  an  unbroken  whole,  nor  yet,  while 
the  Greek  and  Latin  together  formed  the  Graeco-Italic 
or  Pelasgic  idiom,  but  it  must  have  happened  after  the 
separation  of  the  former  from  the  latter — for  the  Latin,  after 
many  centuries,  had  not  yet  manifested  the  least  trace  of 
assibilation — and,  indeed,  on  Greek  ground,  after  the  labial 
had  become  fully  developed,  and  shown  its  distinctive  nature. 

In  the  Modern  Greek,  according  to  Mr.  Schleicher,  pag. 
59,  and  Prof.  Diez,  pag.  234,  235,  the  assibilation  of  k  be- 
fore i  does  not  yet  generally  prevail ;  still,  in  some  dialects  it 
is  even  now  pronounced  as  c=tsh. 

In  order  to  have  a  full  view  of  the  history  of  this  linguistic 
phenomenon,  we  close  our  statement  with  Mr.  Schleicher's 
zetacism  of  the  Romance  languages,  which  not  only  assails  the 
gutturals  and  dentals,  but  also  the  labials,  as  in  the  Thibetian 
and  the  Polish  [and,  as  we  suppose,  to  some  degree  in  the 
Greek]. 

The  guttural  c  before  i,  y,  e,  ae,  ce,  was  partly  changed  into 
z  (=ts,  ds),  e.  g.  Ital.  Zeppo,  cippus ;  Wai.  olzet,  acetum ; 
colza,  calceus  ;  atze,  acies — the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  z 
is  intermediate  between  the  Italian  and  French — partly  into 
the  sound  tsh,  in  the  Italian  dolce,  cielo,  and  partly  into  s  in 
French,  e.  g.  douce,  douceur.  —  Qu  either  remains  unchanged, 
or  else  it  passes  over  into  the  sound  of  s  or  tsh,  e.  g.  Fr. 
cuisine  (coquina),  cinque  ;  or  finally  it  takes  the  sound  of  / , 
e.  g.  Fr.  question, 

J  before  all  vowels,  and  g  before  i  (y)  and  e  either  sound 
as  z,  as  the  Spanish,  or  as  dzh  in  the  Italian,  the  Proven- 
cial  and  the  Walachian,  or  as  zh  in  the  French  and  Por- 
tuguese. 

The  dental  smooth  before  the  mute  i  or  e  (i.  e.  the  conso- 
nantal y)  in  the  Italian  and  Walachian  is  changed  into  ts ; 
in  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  into  z,  $,  where  an  indistinct 
d  is  still  heard,  (cfr.  Diez,  pag.  379).  Thus  in  the  Italian 
we  find  tizzone,  titio  ;  pozzo,  puteus  ;  in  the  Spanish  pozot 


APPENDIX.  165 

dureza  ;  in  the  Portuguese  po$o,  prcsenra  ;  in  the  Proven- 
cial  potz ;  pretz,  pretium.  In  the  Italian  the  letter  i  fre- 
quently remains,  e.  g.  avarizia,  together  with  avarezza.  In 
the  French  t  is  changed  into  s  or  c,  as  injustice,  justesse, 
saison,  or  at  least,  it  sounds  as  s,  e.  g.  nation,  corruption. 
In  a  few  cases  it  becomes  gi  in  the  Italian,  i.  e.  ragione,  con- 
dannagione,  presentations.  Sometimes  it  even  becomes  z 
(tz)  in  the  beginning  of  words,  e.  g.  Ital.  zio,  Walach.  tzigli, 
tegula ;  also  in  the  Italian  anzi,  ante,  from  antie,  antye. 

D,  likewise,  before  i  and  e,  when  they  are  followed  by  an- 
other vowel,  coalesces  into  z  (=dz),  and  sometimes  into  g,— 
dzh,  e.  g.  radius,  razzo ;  medius,  mezzo ;  hodie,  oggi.  In 
the  Provencial  and  the  Walachian  it  becomes  z=soft  or 
hard  s. 

The  labials,  even,  are  sometimes  assailed  by  the  zetacism, 
as  in  the  Thibetan,  Polish  and  Greek :  pi,  pe,  (=py)  e.  g. 
pipio,  piccione  ;  sepia,  Fr.  seche  ;  prope,  Fr.  proche  ;  ap- 
propinquare,  Ital.  approcciare,  Fr.  approcker ;  by,  bi,  be, 
e.  g.  objectum,  Ital.  obbietto,  oggetto ;  subjectum,  Ital.  sub- 
bietto,  suggetto,  Fr.  sujet,  Provenc.  sojeit ;  debeo,  deggio ; 
rabies,  rage;  cambiare,  cangiare,  Fr.  changer;  tibia,  Fr. 
tige ;  rubeus,  Ital.  roggio,  Fr.  rouge :  vi,  ve,  e.  g.  pluvia, 
pioggia ;  serviens,  sergente  ;  cavea,  cage  ;  abbreviare,  abre- 
ger ;  diluvium,  deluge ;  my,  mi,  me :  e.  g.  vindemia,  ven- 
dange  ;  simia,  singe  ;  commeotus,  conge. 

In  tracing  the  development  of  the  zetacism  in  the  various 
languages,  every  unbiased  inquirer  is  irresistibly  led  to  the 
conclusion,  that  we  must  claim  for  the  Latin  and  Greek  the 
same  course  of  development,  as  in  all  other  languages,  and 
that  any  deviation  from  this  general  law  must  be  regarded  as 
an  individual  anomaly,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Aeolians  and 
Dorians  who  not  only  transposed  g  into  e8,  but  also  I  and  4, 
as  in  axevos,  sken'os  GTt&iov,  spel'ion,  instead  of  xwi/oj,  ksen'os 
ts'i'os  and  7t«xtov,  4&ioi;  psel'ion.  This  transposition  of  ? 
however,  is  erroneously  regarded  as  more  general  than  it 
really  is,  since,  according  to  Ahrens,  "  De  dial.  Aeol."  pag. 


166  APPENDIX. 

47,  48,  and  "  De  dial.  Dor."  p.  96,  it  only  extends  to  the  ? 
of  a  dental  origin  (with  the  single  exception  of  ^aSa  for  ^'fw, 
just?w).  Mr.  Schleicher  says,  pag.  43:  "It  is  a  peculiarity 
of  the  Doric  dialect,  whenever  a  &  follows  a  mute,  to  put  it 
before  it ;  e,  g.,  oxipog,  GJt&iov  skiph'os,  spel'ion,  instead  of 
xtlyos  ksiph'os,  Tto&wv  psel'ion.  In  these  examples  ax  and 
crt,  evidently  hold  the  same  relations  to  £  and  4  (*<*  and  Tto) 
;*>s  08  to  ?.  Now,  this  last  case  of  metathesis,  as  is  well  known, 
is  very  frequent,  so  that  those  few  cases  where  an  organical 
o§  has  become  J  (JA^va£*,  0>J,3a?f,  £vpa£f  instead  of  'A>rpa£$p, 
©»J0a$5* ,  ^vpaaSf ,  and  jSvJ^v,  j3v?di/  for  j3vc^i>,  ,8uoSdv,  confertim,) 
are  nothing  else  but  metatheses  (Dorisms).  In  these  cases  J 
was  pronounced  instead  of  08,  as  in  so  many  other  instances, 
in  which  £  (8a)  was  said  by  some,  where  they  heard  others 
say  08.  In  the  common  estimation  <?§  and  80  (?)  were  equiva- 
lents, and  the  dialects  declared  themselves  either  in  favor  of 
one  or  of  the  other.  All  Greeks,  who  were  not  Dorians,  re- 
garded all  compositions  of  08  as  Dorisms,  in  the  place  of 
which  6j  (J)  was  to  be  spoken." —Mr.  Schleicher  continues, 
pag.  155,  ff.  :  "  As  the  grammarians  were  unable  to  explain 
genetically  any  other  ?  than  that  which  in  a  few  cases  had 
really  come  from  08  ('A^i/ajp,  etc.),  and  as  they  had  no  idea 
whatever  of  the  formation  of  the  great  majority  of  the  other  J, 
they  adopted  this  explanation  for  the  J  in  general,  and 
made  a  rule  of  the  exception,  which  is  a  favourite  method 
followed  by  the  grammarians  of  the  old  school.  The  fact 
that  <T  sounded  differently  from  08  is  proved  by  the  gram- 
marians, where  they  treat  of  the  change  of  J  into  0  and  8  • 
e.  g.  Herodian  in  the  Etymologicum  Magnum,  181,  44, 
says,  l  a%vd08i>]{ii,  .  .  .  rportij  tov  J  1 1$  0  xat  8  ;  Dionysius  of 
Halicarnass.  universally  classes  <?  with  4  and  I,  only  he  attri- 
butes to  it  a  softer  sound,  inasmuch  as  it  is  not  equivalent  to 
10  but  to  dz.  The  reason  why  in  some  places  he  puts  0  before 
8  may  be  this,  that  he  was  thinking  of  such  cases,  as  'A^jjv*?** 
'A^vtttfSf,  by  which  he  wished  to  indicate  at  the  same  time 
the  apparent  etymology  of  J  .  .  .  Plato  would  certainly  not 


APPENDIX.  167 

have  called  ?  jtvevmrtuSes,  (Cratylus,  p.  427),  nor  would  he 
have  classed  it  with  <p,  $  and  a,  if  it  had  been  pronounced  08. 
The  sounds  <p,  4  end  in  a  breathing  sound  (spirans)  and  2  is 
a  pure  breathing  sound  (spirans)  ;  thus  they  are  all  continuous 
and  the  breathing  is  clearly  marked  in  them.  But  these  at- 
tributes are  all  wanting  in  a8,  while  they  are  distinctly  found 
in  £—dz.  Aristotle,  also,  Metaph.  XIV,  6,  classes  together 
I,  4,  £,  as  being  homogeneous,  avp<pwi<u.  Dionysius,  likewise 
does  not  mention  the  slightest  difference  between  them  in  the 
following  passage  (p.  168)  :  rput  8e  to,  &ot7ta  ^/u'^wva  (.uxruv 

Xa/i/3a?gt    to*   $o(pov,    i|   li>6$    ^tfv    fwv    r/ui,<f>utvuv   tov    cr,    tfpcwi/     6g 

d^tovwi'  foi)  ?£  x  5c(u  tov  8  xai  tov  7t ;  and  in  the  passage  im- 
mediately following,  where  it  is  his  object  to  point  out  the 
distinctive  feature  of  £,  he  only  says,  that  £,  on  account  of  its 
being  medial,  i.  e.  belonging  to  the  middle  (^CTU^  OVIM 
appotspuv,  viz.  4,  and  |),  sounded  more  softly.  If  there  had 
existed  such  a  great  difference  between  f  on  the  one  hand,  and 
4  and  |  on  the  other,  as  is  supposed  by  those,  who  pronounce 
?  as  08,  Dionysius  would  have  surely  mentioned  it  here,  as  he 

above  others  is  distinguished  by  his  acute  observation 

How,  indeed,  could  Dionysius  have  described  4  and  I  as 
being  fytoysvets  to  ?,  if  this  had  been  pronounced  06  and  not 
dz?" 

From  these  extracts  we  see  that  Mr.  Schleicher  vindicates 
its  true  sound  to  the  letter  f.  Still,  he  admits,  that  there  are 
unequivocal  testimonies  of  later  Greeks  in  favor  of  its  Aeolic 
and  Doric  sound  a$.  A  like  difference,  also,  appears  in  the 
Roman  testimonies,  adduced  by  Schneider  in  his  Compen- 
dious Latin  Grammar  ("Ausfiihrliche  Grammatik,"  etc.  Vol. 
I.,  pp.  375-388).  While  the  older  Greek  testimonies  are  more 
in  favor  of  the  double  consonant  5?,  the  latter  incline  more  to 
the  opposite  side.  This,  also,  is  perfectly  natural.  For,  in 
olden  times,  the  double  sound  of  the  letter  f  was  in  use  among 
those  who  spake  the  Attic,  or  the  common  Greek  dialect. 
This,  afterwards,  disappeared  more  and  more,  until,  at  last,  it 
was  reduced  to  the  simple  sound  of  the  middle  aspirate,  viz., 


168  APPENDIX. 

z  in  English  ;  while  the  lower  classes  of  the  Aeolic  and  Doric 
population,  as  is  the  case  in  all  languages,(especially  in  the 
German,)  clung  fast  to  their  old  forms  and  sounds,  in  which, 
in  respect  to  the  pronunciation  08,  they  were,  moreover, 
strengthened  by  some  Attic  forms,  which  have  been  men- 
tioned above.  The  same  was  the  case  among  the  Romans. 
They  were  in  constant  intercourse  with  the  Doric  population 
of  Lower  Italy  and  the  opposite  Greek  coast,  as  well  as  with 
those  in  Sicily,  and  on  this  account  they  imagined  the  archaic 
double  sound  of  <?§  (which  still  continued  in  those  regions, 
while  in  the  common  Greek  dialect  it  sounded  like  a  simple  z, 
as  in  French  or  English),  to  be  the  original  sound,  which 
they  extended,  also,  to  the  Ionian  and  Attic  dialects.  By 
doing  so  they  made  the  same  mistake,  as  for  instance  he 
would  make,  who,  from  the  fact  that  in  one  part  of  Germany 
Sch=Eng.  sh,  is  separated  into  the  sounds  s  and  2=M, 
would  conclude  that,  also,  in  the  rest  of  Germany  they  say 
"gewas-chene  Kamas  chen,"  instead  of  "  gewash-ene  Kamash- 
en."  The  modern  grammarians,  to  whom  all  Greek  sounds 
are  mere  dead  sounds,  either  follow  the  later  authorities,  or 
else  they  credit  the  earlier  dates  which  are  more  in  agreement 
with  the  dictates  of  a  sound  reason,  and  thus  they  are  either 
in  favor  of  5c?  or  a$,  or  else  they  are  undecided,  or  adopt  the 
post-classical  and  modern  Greek  pronunciation,  i.  e.  the  sound 
of  French  and  English  z.  Among  thirty-six  Greek  and  Latin 
grammarians,  whose  works  we  have  on  hand,  eighteen  are 
in  favor  of  6$,  viz.,  Zumpt,  Schneider,  Johannsen,  Key,  Mc- 
Clintock,  Bullion,  Donaldson,  JBillroth,  Alschefski,  Vanicek 
in  their  Latin  Grammars ;  Kuhner,  Mehlhorn,  Baeumlein, 
Curtius  in  their  Greek ;  and,  moreover,  the  Messrs.  Bopp, 
Diez,  Schleicher,  Corssen  ;  in  favor  of  ad  are  Ahrens,  Kru- 
ger,  Thiersch,  Eost,  Grotefend,  JRamshorn,  Madvig  ;  the  fol- 
lowing gentlemen  are  undecided,  viz.,  Weissenborn,  Kritz, 
Schulz,  Andrew  and  Stoddard,  Meiring,  Frei,  Crosby, 
Hartung.  Dr.  Buttmann  declares,  page  17,  of  his  Com- 
pendious Grammar,  ("Ausfiihrliche  Grammatik")  that  f  is 


APPENDIX.  169 

not  to  be  pronounced  like  the  German  z,  viz  .,  ts,  but  that  it 
ought  to  be  sounded  more  like  ds,  or  rather  like  dz,  which  z 
corresponds  to  the  French  or  English  letter. 

This  double  letter,  he  holds,  very  soon  passed  over  into  the 
simple  French  or  English  z ;  still,  he  says,  that  we  ought  not 
to  give  up  its  compound  sound  which  is  proved  by  prosody, 
e.  g.  in  fpdrtc£a,  dp^uo^w.  He  concludes  the  subject  in  the 
following  words :  "  There  are  some  testimonies  and  traces 
from  which  it  appears,  that  this  double  sound  was  properly  eS 
(French  and  English  zd)  ;  still,  there  must  have  been  some 
difference  between  this  pronunciation,  and  the  peculiarity  of 
the  Dorians  pronouncing  a§  instead  of  §*.  The  best  thing  we 
can  do  for  the  present,  is,  to  leave  this  matter  to  investigation, 
and  to  hold  fast  in  usage  to  the  customary  pronunciation  5?, 
which,  certainly,  has  also  the  claim  of  antiquity."  To  inves- 
tigation, also,  it  was  reserved  to  find  the  clue  to  this  labyrinth 
of  contradictory  views  and  testimonies  of  antiquity  in  which 
the  old  school  gropes  about,  and,  by  comparing  all  languages 
to  which  we  have  access,  to  reach  a  higher  point  of  view  in 
the  several  domains  of  language,  from  which  we  are  en- 
abled to  establish  those  laws  of  analogy  by  which  we  can  with 
certainty  fathom  antehistorical  formations  in  language.  It  is 
a  fact,  as  we  have  seen  above,  that  the  dentals,  gutturals,  and 
in  some  measure,  also,  the  labials,  which  originally  were  pure, 
unmixed  creations  of  the  several  articulating  stations,  in 
the  course  of  time  became  weakened,  and,  in  their  weakened 
state,  endeavored  to  prop  themselves,  either  by  solidifying  the 
vowels  i  and  e  (when  preceding  other  vowels,)  and  changing 
them  into  the  cognate  semi-vowel  y  (y  in  year),  or  else  by 
inserting  this  straightway  into  the  stem.  Some  languages 
did  not  go  any  further,  but  in  others,  although  y  did  not  ex- 
actly assibilate  the  preceding  gutturals  (or  labials,)  it  still 
decomposed  them  to  such  a  degree,  as  to  change  them  into 
dentals  which  are  more  nearly  related  to  the  sibilants.  The 
next  step  is  that,  where  the  dental  is  weakened  into  its  cog- 
nate sibilant,  but  where  the  semi-vowel  is  still  heard ;  in  the 


170  APPENDIX. 

last  step,  finally,  it  is  thoroughly  absorbed  by  the  dental  si- 
bilant. Thus,  in  the  Danish,  Icelandic,  and  Finnish,  the 
semi-vowel  y  is  first  introduced  into  stems  ;  in  the  Swedish 
and  Magyar  it  has  already  decomposed  the  guttural  into  a 
dental,  and,  according  to  Prof.  Rask  (see  above),  it  is  even 
now  partially  assibilated.  In  the  English  language  we  are 
still  averse  to  the  assibilation  of  i  and  e  before  the  dental 
middle  d,  e.  g.  obedient,  expedient,  hideous,  dewy,  but  by 
converting  both  iand  e  into  a  y,  we  have  already  taken  the  first 
step  towards  their  assibilation,  which,  even,  is  already  accom- 
plished in  soldier,  and  to  some  degree  in  educate,  etc.  In 
the  dental  and  guttural  smooths,  viz.  :  t  and  c,  we  admit  it  in 
all  its  degrees.  Tis  merely  propped  as  yet  by  the  interpo- 
sition of  y  (i),  e.  g.  in  nature,  stature,  which,  according  to 
some  authorities,  are  still  to  be  pronounced  na-tyur,  std-tyur, 
while,  by  others,  they  are  already  assibilated ;  in  piteous, 
courteous,  also,  t  is  still  protected  by  e  changed  into  y,  in 
righteous  it  is  already  assibilated,  while  in  propitious  the  t 
preceding  the  sibilant  is  even  cast  off.  The  same  case  we 
notice  in  the  assibilated  c,  which  universally  casts  off  the  mute 
preceding  the  sibilant,  e.  g.  associate,  gracious,  special, 
while  the  guttural  middle  still  retains  it,  e.  g.  contagious, 
courageous. — The  fact  of  the  first  degree  of  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  guttural  smooth  is  demonstrated  in  the  Latin  by 
the  interchange  of  the  guttural  and  the  dental,  e.  g.  patri- 
cius  and  patritius,  concio  and  contio,  nuntius  and  nuncius, 
etc.  The  time  of  their  assibilation  cannot  be  determined, 
because  it  was  not  expressed  in  writing  by  z.  It  can  scarcely 
be  doubted,  however,  that  the  assibilation  was  avoided  by  the 
educated,  as  is  even  done  in  our  language,  and  that  it  was 
not  expressed  by  them  in  writing,  even  after  it  had  been  for  a 
long  time  established  in  the  popular  pronunciation.  It  was 
finally  introduced  into  the  written  language  in  the  Italian. 
It  was  different  in  the  Greek,  where  a  peculiar  character  was 
procured  for  the  representation  of  the  sound,  obtained  by  the 
decomposition  of  the  mutes. 


APPENDIX.  171 

We  willingly  agree  with  Mr.  Schleicher,  who  on  account 
of  the  analogy  with  the  other  languages  assumes  the  transition 
sounds  dsh  and  tsh  also  for  the  Greek  and  Latin.  This  decom- 
position of  the  mutes  in  the  Greek  into  dsh  or  tsh,  however, 
must  certainly  date  back  to  ante-historical  times,  and  in  the 
Latin,  where  this  process  of  weakening  began  in  the  historical 
times,  the  weakening  into  dsh  or  tsh  cannot  be  established  at 
all ;  hence,  in  the  Greek  we  have  with  a  certainty  only  the 
combination  dz,  and  in  the  Latin  dz  and  ts.  By  admitting, 
in  the  Greek,  this  ante-historical  sound  dzh,  we  obtain  that 
particular  sound  about  which  Dr.  Buttmann,  p.  17,  Obs.  7, 
speaks  in  general  terms,  and  which  Mr.  Sophocles  apparently 
means  in  his  Grammar,  p.  16  (1857)  where  he  says,  "Had  z 
been  sounded  like  2A,  Dionysius  and  Quintilian  could  not 
have  admired  its  beautiful  sound  'yGvxrjtcfrtvsvpa'tt,  Saavvstaf, 
lit  is  gently  aspirated',  and  '  jucundissima  litter  a',  and  the 
Roman  grammarians  would  not  have  asserted,  that  the 
Latins  had  no  sound  corresponding  to  it.  It  is  evident, 
therefore,  that  z  is  not  a  double  consonant  in  the  usual 
acceptation  of  the  term  l  double  '  ".  Mr.  Key,  also,  in  his 
"Alphabet"  (1849)  arrives  at  a  similar  result,  where  he  says: 
"  We  strongly  suspect,  that  the  genuine  sound  of  the  Greek 
z  in  early  times  was  not,  as  it  is  sometimes  [we  may  say 
universally^  stated  that  of  sd  or  ds,  for  then  it  would  have 
been  a  superfluous  letter,  and  would  scarcely  have  appeared 
•jo  early  in  the  alphabet.  We  would  rather  believe,  that  the 
jound  was  similar  to  that  of  the  English  j.n  As  regards 
the  superfluousness  of  the  letter  f,  we  agree  with  Mr.  Key, 
but  then  the  same  applies  to  the  other  double  consonants, 
viz :  I  and  4,  and  still  they  are  found  in  the  Greek  alphabet 
at  a  very  early  time.  The  reason  why  the  letter  f  was  intro- 
duced at  such  an  early  time,  may  be  owing  to  its  peculiar 
function  of  representing  a  sound  which  was  produced  by  the 
decomposition  of  the  mutes.  In  case  we  even  assume  the 
existence  of  an  original  dsh  (dzh)  in  the  ante-historical  ages, 
it,  still,  cannot  be  admitted  that  this  sound  was  yet  heard  at 


172  APPENDIX. 

the  times  of  Dionysius  and  Quintilian ;  inasmuch,  as  the 
sound  of  sh  had  disappeared  from  the  Greek  even  before  the 
beginning  of  the  historical  ages,  and  was  still  wanting  in  it 
up  to  the  present  time,  where  it  is  recorded  as  a  matter  of 
curiosity,  that  this  sound  is  now  being  heard  in  Athens  for 
the  first  time,  preceded  by  a  hard  dental  mute,  where,  for 
instance/EXEtvo;  is  said  to  be  now  pronounced  like  etshee-nos. 
The  reason  why  the  beauty  of  this  sound  was  admired  by 
Dionysius  and  Quintilian,  supposing  it  even  to  have  consisted 
of  dz,  was  probably  this,  that  while  in  the  other  compound 
letters,  viz :  |  and  4  the  first  members  were  smooths,  in  f  it 
was  a  middle,  which,  in  the  course  of  time  was  reduced  more 
and  more,  until  it  was  finally  scarcely  audible,  so  that  it  may 
be  compared  with  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  c  and  z.  Dr. 
Buttmanri's  assumption,  that  the  Aeolic  and  Doric  combina- 
tion 06  was  prior  to  the  Ionian  dz,  lacks  all  positive  proofs. 

1.  Because  it  is  impossible  for  sd  to  be  developed  into  ds  ; 

2.  because  the  historical  proofs,  as  we  have  seen  above,  do 
not  compel  us  to  make  this  assumption,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
are  more  favorable  to  the  other  explanation ;   3.  inasmuch  as 
all  the  investigations,  instituted  into  the  nature  of  the  sound 
obtained  by  the  decomposition  of  the  mutes,  (as  has  been 
shown  above)  prove,  that  it  consists  of  a  sibilant,  preceded  by 
the  dental  mute,  we  must  look  upon  the  combination  sd!  as  a 
dialectic     anomaly    and  excrescence,  which  is  comparatively 
old,  and  yet  owing  to  a  later  formation. 


.  4 


YR 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


